A Miracle Called Love
by Marina LALA
Summary: [Miracle] Nadia is a young girl who has never had a love life. All she wants is a guy to call her own. She finds the perfect man and gets more than she bargained for. [i changed the rating for obvious reasons!]
1. Prologue

A Miracle Called Love

**Introduction**

My name is Nadia Petrova. I am 23 years old and I am in college in Albany NY. Last April, I met a man who I was with for quite sometime and began to fall in love with. Then, just like that, he was gone… I thought I was never to see him again, until the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. He was there, and so was I…

I.


	2. In Russia

**Chapter 1**

**In Russia**

It was April 12, 1979 and a class from the University of Albany was taking a trip. But this was no ordinary class on any ordinary trip. This was the Russian advanced-language group on their trip to Moscow, Russia. Their trip was to "experience the culture." Many of the kids on this trip were very excited but some, like Tina and Chelsea, could care less. They were just interested in the guys going on the trip, like Gary and Red.

One of the most excited girls on the trip was Nadia. She had always been interested in the Russian culture and the language. Nadia had spoken Russian since she was 7 years old because she was Russian. Her mother and father had met in Russia and fallen in love. They wanted to move away from the Soviet government because they wanted Nadia to have a good life without unfair rules and laws. Nadia's parents somehow snuck onto a cargo plane headed for the states and survived the trip. Some people in the US didn't welcome them, but the few they actually talked to felt they were good people. Nadia's parents told her not to advertise to the world that she was Russian because of prejudice and the war. Only her best friend Sally, who was still in NY, knew. Nadia had always secretly dreamed of meeting a Russian boy and falling madly in love, like her parents did. She knew that this was her only opportunity to make her dream a reality.

After 10 hours of flying, the plane finally landed. Jetlagged and tired, the students got off of the plane. For the students that had watches on, they read 3:00am, but it was sunny at the airport.

"Excuse me, sir." Asked Tina in Russian, "But what time is it?"

The man replied, "It is 11:00 am. Shouldn't you be in school?"

Tina didn't even bother to answer because she realized how tired she was, "Oh, I am so stinkin' tired!" she growled, "Gary, hold me!"

Tina was a girl of 23 years old with light brown medium length hair and blue eyes. Her boyfriend was Gary, a 25-year-old boy. Tina's boyfriends never lasted long, though. Gary came over and embraced Tina, who was grinning. Chelsea saw this and went over to her boyfriend. Chelsea was a 24-year-old girl with long black hair and dark brown eyes. Her boyfriend was named Peter, but everyone called him Red, and was 26-years-old.

"Hey, Red, can you buy me a hot chocolate? I'm, like, really cold." She knew the answer that was coming.

"Don't worry, I'll keep you warm." He said.

Nadia just watched. She never had a boyfriend, nor had she wanted one, at least, not in the USA. She had always dreamed of love and was sure she would find it in Russia.

Nadia took out her trip outline to take her mind off of the lovers. She had been waiting for this trip since she had found out about it, two years ago. The outline stated that they were to go the capitol, Moscow, and see the sights, then go to watch some of the sports. Nadia read the list of sports in her head. They were figure skating, hockey, and skiing. Nadia loved hockey and played whenever she could, so this excited her. She often went to the library to look up famous hockey players from Russia and could recall reading about they're record. They had won 4 Olympic gold medals in a row and World Championships in between. They were the best in the world.

"Okay, listen up everyone!" said their teacher, Mr. Ryan, "Since there are so many of you, I've decided to split you up into groups. Tina, Chris, and Peter are _group 1_. Chelsea, Sean, and Lola are _group 2_. Nadia, Gary, and Jeremy are _group 3_ and Smith, Star and Amy are _group 4_. Okay?"

Everyone pretty much just nodded, except Chelsea and Tina.

"Excuse me, but can we be with our boyfriends?" said Chelsea.

"Sure, does anyone want to switch groups?" asked Mr. Ryan.

Tina glared at Jeremy, the smallest kid in the group, and he got frightened.

"I'll switch!" he said.

"Good." Said Mr. Ryan, "Anyone else?"

Chelsea kicked Chris in the back of his knee and he shouted.

"Okay, Chris and Chelsea can switch." Said Mr. Ryan, "Is everyone okay now?"

Everyone nodded.

"Alright, then. Group one will go to see the sights in Moscow, group two will go see the figure skating, group three will watch the hockey and group four will go see the skiing."

Everyone split up into their groups and got into the rental cars that were waiting there for them. Two groups had to wait for their cars because Mr. Ryan hadn't planned on having four groups. Chelsea and Tina, being very greedy, pushed the other groups out of their way and got to the cars. Nadia was actually grateful for Tina's rudeness. She didn't want to stand out in the cold, Moscow Airport, air.

Gary quickly got into the drivers seat and Tina sat next to him. Nadia watched as she kissed him. It was a deep kiss, but it didn't look like it had passion. Gary saw her looking and said, "Just sit in the back with the luggage!"

He pushed Nadia into the crowded back seat and closed the door. Then, he started driving, following Mr. Ryan in his bigger car. He also had group one with him, so Chelsea and Red probably wouldn't be doing much of anything.

About twenty minutes later, they reached their hotel. It was a big white hotel covered with freshly fallen snow. There were two big doors for the entrance and exit in the front of the building. Everyone went to park their rental cars and went into the hotel. In the lobby, Mr. Ryan told them their room numbers and who they would be sharing with. Chelsea and Tina were sharing a room, Gary and Red were sharing a room, and Nadia was sharing a room with Amy. Amy was a nice girl that Nadia got along well with. Everyone was instructed to go to their rooms and get unpacked and then come down to the lobby to get ready for their first trip.

Amy and Nadia walked up to room 405 and unlocked the door. Their room was a decent size with a window that looked over Moscow. They were on the 5th floor out of 6 floors and could see everything. Nadia fell into a little daydream but quickly came back. She and Amy unpacked their stuff, which took a long time because the visit to Russia was for 3 weeks, and went down to the lobby.

In the lobby, Mr. Ryan was hurrying to get everyone set. He was also excited about this trip.

"Okay everyone!" he said, "You know where you are going?"

Everyone nodded and rolled their eyes. What were they, 4 years old?

"No you don't!" he said.

Everyone looked at him like he was nuts.

"Because we are all going out to eat! I arranged tables at a very fancy Russian restaurant and that's what we are doing tonight. Tomorrow is when we start our trips."

He handed directions to all of the groups to keep. Tina, Gary, and Nadia went into the parking lot and got into the car. Nadia sat in the back again, but wasn't as squished. She looked out the back window as Gary drove to the Russian restaurant called _Olesya_.


	3. They Meet

**Chapter 2**

**They Meet**

In the car, Nadia thought over the trip. It would stink and be amazing at the same time. For one, Gary and Tina would be in her group. She didn't hate them half as much as they hated her. Tina and Chelsea had known Nadia since she was in Junior High. They had all been best friends until Nadia remained small and child looking and they matured. Tina and Chelsea turned into fashion-obsessed witches while Nadia remained pure and good. They got boyfriends and she got friends that were boys.

'Well, at least it's only one of them.' She thought, 'And Tina isn't even half as bad as Chelsea is so… this trip should turn out quite well!'

Nadia's thoughts had taken her so far away that she didn't realize that they had arrived.

"Hey little girl, we're here." Said Gary.

Nadia's thoughts of happiness were broken and she angrily got out of the car, upset at the comment that was thrown at her. She might have been smaller than he, but she was defiantly smarter. Gary and Tina had their arms around each other and were talking quietly, glancing back every so often to laugh at an alone Nadia. A lump of sadness developed in her stomach, but she was determined not to show it.

'Just because I don't have a boyfriend, doesn't mean I have to be unhappy…' Nadia tried to convince herself, half-heartedly.

In the restaurant, the Russian waiter sat all of the students at 3 connected tables. Nadia sat next to Amy and Jeremy and everyone grabbed a menu. The foods and ingredients were in Russian and even though it was an advanced class, everyone needed help ordering. When the waiter approached Nadia, she sat calmly and spoke to him fluently in Russian, having spoken it most of the time at home. He complemented her voice and kissed her on the cheek as a thank you. Nadia blushed when she realized everyone was staring at her, grinning.

"Show off!" said Chelsea, angrily.

When everyone got their food, the group started to talk. (In English, of coarse!) Amy and Jeremy talked a little, even though both were shy. Chelsea was talking to Red and Tina was talking to Gary. Nadia talked a little with Amy, but got bored with their conversation. She looked around the table and saw that everyone was "paired-off." It was as if every girl had a lover, except her. Even Amy looked as though she had Jeremy, who was speaking softly to her. She began to feel the lump in her stomach come back.

"May I use the bathroom, Mr. Ryan?" she asked.

"Go ahead." He said.

Nadia started to walk to the bathroom quickly with her head down. She didn't see anyone coming and bumped right into someone. The soda that he was carrying spilled all over her. Laughter rang out around the restaurant.

"Oh, I'm really sorry!" he said.

Nadia looked up at him and saw that he must have been at least 6-feet tall and a little younger than 30. He had big brown eyes and wavy brown hair.

"No, I'm sorry." She said, "I wasn't looking where I was going."

The man looked at her white shirt that had a big brown stain on it from the soda. Her shirt had also become see-through from the wetness, causing Nadia to blush as she saw him staring at her. She felt like she was naked in front of a large crowd of people.

"Um, maybe you need a new shirt." He said.

Nadia stumbled and said softly, "I think so."

The man looked over to the table he was sitting at and said, in Russian, "I have a shirt she can use out on the bus." The older man at the table nodded.

"Hey, I have a—." he started to say.

"I know." She said, "That would be great."

Nadia and the man walked outside. Nadia could hear Chelsea and Tina, along with their boyfriends, laughing at her. At this point, Nadia could care less.

Nadia and the man walked out to his bus. Nadia was thinking it would be a small bus, but it was a big tour bus with the words, "USSR Olympic Hockey Team" on the side in Russian. Nadia gasped and looked at him.

He smiled and said, "You're not from around here, are you?"

"No, I'm from the States." She said, "You—you're on the Soviet Union hockey team?"

"Yes. I'm Vladislav Tretiak." He said, "Who are you?"

Nadia smiled, "I'm Nadia Petrova."

"Nice name…" he said, "I wouldn't have guessed you a Russian."

Nadia didn't really know what to say to this and just nodded slightly.

"So, again, I'm sorry for bumping into you." Said Nadia.

Vladislav went into the bus to get her a shirt. He came out with a red shirt that said 'CCCP' on the front and 'Tretiak' on the back.

"I highly doubt it'll fit but, it's dry." He said smiling.

"Thanks, I'll go inside and change." She said.

Nadia shivered on her way back to the restaurant and Vladislav said, "You look cold."

"I'm a little chilly." She admitted.

"Put my jacket on, it's my fault you're cold." He said, putting it on her shoulders.

It was baggy, but it was warm, and Nadia snuggled into it when he wasn't looking at her. She smiled at him and he said, "So," he said changing the subject, feeling a little embarrassed, "What made you come to Moscow?"

"I'm on a college trip. Tomorrow I'm going… wait, I'm going to the hockey rink." She said happily.

"Hey, that's cool! I'm practicing tomorrow!" said Vladislav.

"I'll be able to return your shirt faster than I thought." Said Nadia, jokingly.

He laughed a little and held the door for Nadia. Chelsea and Tina glared at her when she walked in with his jacket on, smiling and talking.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then?" she said.

"Yeah." He said, "Well, bye."

"Bye."

Nadia gave him his jacket back and went into the bathroom to change.

Nadia came out with Vladislav's shirt on and her table gasped, some even choked on what was left of their food. She looked over at Tretiak's table and he was eating. She saw that the older man was looking at her, not with anger, but with amazement, really. She guessed that this was Viktor Tikhonov, the USSR hockey coach. She had read a lot about him. Nadia gave him a little wave and he nodded his head at her and continued eating his dinner. As she neared her table, Chelsea and Tina looked at her shirt. They knew this could only mean one thing; Nadia had a chance to do something with her life, and they would do anything to keep her from being happy.


	4. Get Together

**Chapter 3**

**Get Together**

The Next Day…

Nadia and Amy had gone to bed the following night at 9:00 so they could get an early start the next day. Unlike Chelsea and Tina who stayed up until 12:00. They spent their time talking about their boyfriends and how much _fun_ they would have.

Nadia and Amy got up at 7:00, excited about their day. They were a little disappointed that they weren't in the same groups, but quickly got over it when hearing about their day's plan. Nadia actually had something more fun than being left out by the Terrible Two to look forward to. She was thinking about Vladislav and how she had borrowed his shirt the night before. She wanted to see him more than anyone at that moment because she felt they could become quite close. She didn't want to rush into things and mess them up, but she did want something to happen between them. When she saw him at _Olesya_ the night before and looked into his eyes, she knew that something was meant to be.

Nadia and Amy left to go down to the lobby one hour later. They were chatting on their way down and passed Gary and Red. Red winked at Amy and she looked at the ground. It was a known fact that Red cheated on his girlfriends. When people would tell this to Chelsea, she would refuse to believe it and knock them over. Amy, being a very shy girl, just walked a little faster and Nadia did too, seeing how uncomfortable she was. When they got into the lobby, they were practically running down the hallway and Mr. Ryan said, "Wow, you two seem excited!" They smiled sarcastically and got situated into their groups. Gary and Tina were smiling at each other. Nadia noticed that Tina didn't have a coat on and was going to ask if she forgot it, but then thought, 'Oh, maybe she wanted to forget it. So she can—.' Nadia gave Tina a sad look and Tina looked at her weirdly. The three of them got into the car and drove to the rink, Nadia smushed in back as usual.

When the arrived at the hockey rink, Gary and Tina had already decided what their plan was. Nadia would watch the hockey and tell them everything that had happened, and they would, well, do _other_ things. They walked into the giant building and saw no one there.

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" asked Nadia.

"Duh!" said Tina, "they're probably just—."

As she said this, the three of them heard some yelling coming from the ice rink.

"Told ya." Said Tina and pushed past Nadia.

Gary did the same, but almost knocked her over because of his size comparison to her. Nadia sighed and walked slowly into the arena. She got in and there were 3 other people in the seats surrounding the rink. Nadia looked over and saw Tina and Gary going up the stairs to the overhead seating, where they could be alone. Nadia shook her head and went to sit down. She took off her little bag, which held Vladislav's shirt.

Nadia relaxed for about two and a half hours, watching the Soviet team practice. They had a fluent and creative, but incredibly hard, style of practicing. The forwards would practice shooting on the goalies and the wings would practice bring the puck down. Tikhonov would have them doing drills for 10 minutes straight. They all got the most out of their practice.

After they're practice was over and the few people who came to watch had left, Nadia came down from her seat, onto the ice. She glided on her Converse's over to the goal and picked up a puck that had been left in it. Across the ice, she saw a stick left and went to go pick it up. She got to the stick, picked it up, and started shooting the puck into the goal. Her form was awkward and messy, but the puck still went in. Nadia looked up and saw Tina and Gary coming out of they're seating.

Tina looked down at Nadia and laughed, "I can't believe you thought that guy actually had an interest in you! He was only being nice by giving you his shirt! Get over it! No hot guy would like _you_!"

She and Gary walked out of the rink. On the way, Nadia heard Gary asking Tina if she _really_ thought he was hot. Then, she heard the distant sound of a car pulling out. Nadia saw, through the glass, that they drove away. She got down on her knees and started to cry. She was stranded without a car or anyone to contact. Nadia, then, heard the sound of blades on the ice but didn't care. All of a sudden, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, Nadia." Said Vladislav.

Nadia looked shocked to see him, "Vladislav? Wha—what are you doing here? I thought you had gone."

"Call me Vlad," he said, "and not yet. That was only half of our practice. What about you, I thought you would have left by now. What's wrong?"

Nadia started to cry again, "Tina and Gary left without me. I'm stuck here and they'll probably make up some random excuse of why I'm gone, too!"

Vladislav frowned, but then started to smile.

"What?" asked Nadia, in-between sobs.

"Well, we could take you back to your hotel. But only if you give me back my shirt." He said, laughing.

Nadia giggled and handed him the shirt.

"I hope you don't mind staying here for a few more hours."

"Not at all. It'll be enjoyable to watch you—I mean, watch your practice." She blushed and continued, "I don't know how to thank you."

Vladislav put his hand on Nadia's shoulder and she blushed again. "I'll think of something, don't you worry." He said and smiled.

Vladislav Tretiak picked up Nadia and skated her over to the edge of the rink.

"Well, at least I don't have you worry about you running away." He said, jokingly.

"You won't ever have to worry about that." She said, "I have a feeling that we will be good friends."

"I should think so," said Tretiak, "You've already worn some of my clothes."

Nadia blushed and smiled, "I think that was a one-time deal."

Vladislav smiled and said, "Maybe not."

Nadia hit him playfully on his shoulder and he skated over to the net, ready to defend it.

Nadia giggled a little to herself and sat down in her seat. She felt that it was, maybe, destiny that Tina and Gary had left her there and that she had never had a boyfriend. Nadia was beginning to believe that she and Tretiak could become close friends, maybe even more. She sat up close to the glass watched the players carefully. They moved so fluently, like they were walking on air. She became enchanted with their practice and the next 3 hours flew by. It seemed to Nadia that she had just sat down, and was now ready to leave. She got out of her seat and glided over to Vlad, who was by the goal. He still had his mask on his face and his stick in his hand.

"So, your practice is over?" she asked.

"Well _team _practice is over, but Boris and I always do a little practice after." He said, "Feel free to stand on the ice, it'll just be us out here."

Boris smiled at Nadia, "We usually make bets, but I don't want to embarrass Vlad in front of you!"

"No way!" shouted Tretiak, "You go and make whatever kind of bet you want!"

Boris Mikhailov stopped, made a sly look and said, "Any kind?"

"Sure, why not! You'll lose anyway!" said Vlad.

"Vlad," said Nadia, "If you stop this one, I'll thank you with a hot chocolate."

"Alright." He said.

Boris shot and Vlad stopped it.

Nadia giggled and Tretiak said, "Okay, if I stop this one, I'll buy you a cookie to go with _your_ hot chocolate."

Boris shot and Tretiak stopped the puck.

"Yes!" Nadia said, giving a little hop for joy.

"Okay, Mr. I-Stop-Every-Puck," said Mikhailov, jokingly, "if I score on you, you kiss Nadia."

"Huh!" said Vlad, half with confusion and half with embarrassment. He wasn't paying attention, so Boris shot. He scored.

"You know you like her!" said Boris, "Besides… you two look good together!"

Both Boris and Vlad looked at Nadia who was red from both the cold and embarrassment. She smiled and said, "What kind of cookie?"

Both the guys laughed.

"Whatever kind you like." Replied Vlad.

Boris, seeing that Vlad wasn't paying attention, pushed him into Nadia. He put his hands out in front of him and pinned Nadia's shoulders against the side of the rink. Nadia stared into his dark brown eyes.

He grinned and said, "So, hot chocolate then?"

Nadia smiled, "With whipped cream?"

"Sounds good." He said.

He and Boris agreed that their practice was done for that day and decided to leave. The USSR hockey team was in the locker room getting ready to leave. Nadia was a little surprised that Vlad let her come into the locker room. She was sure he would have told her to wait outside. When he and Boris had gotten changed from their hockey gear into regular clothes, the team got on the bus to go back to their dorm rooms. They were staying in dorms because of the hockey practice and games, where they needed the whole team together.

Vlad and Nadia stayed on the bus after everyone had gotten off. He told the bus driver to take Nadia to her hotel to meet up with everyone. Before getting off of the bus, Nadia talked to Vlad a little.

"So, what time should you come over?" asked Vlad.

Nadia silently thought for a second and finally said, "How about 9:00?"

"Good! Since tomorrow is Saturday, our practice begins at 2:00." He said.

"Okay, so, we can go for hot chocolate…OH! And my cookie!" said Nadia, cutely.

"Yes, of course. And then, maybe we can walk through the park?" he asked.

"Oh, that sounds wonderful!" she said, and felt the bus come to a stop.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Said Vlad.

Nadia hugged him affectionately. Vlad and Nadia both knew this hug was a hug of friendship and thanks. It meant a lot to Nadia when he hugged her back warmly.

"Oh, and I'm in room 306." He added. Nadia smiled.

"Bye." She said quietly and got off of the bus.

Nadia waved to him as the bus drove off.

As Nadia got into the hotel, Mr. Ryan ran over to her and yelled, "Are you alright?"

Nadia smiled and said, "Of course! Why?"

"Tina and Gary told me they lost you and spent an hour looking for you!" he replied, between breathes.

"Wait! That's not—." she stopped when she saw Chelsea and Tina glairing at her from across the room. Red and Gary punched their right fists into their lefts hands as if saying, 'You tell, you're dead!'

"Yes?" asked Mr. Ryan curiously.

Nadia sighed with defeat, "That's what happened. I went outside for some fresh air and—err, got lost?"

"Oh." Said Mr. Ryan, "Well, just be more careful next time, little girl."

Nadia got a little mad when he called her "little girl". But her anger was quickly overpowered by the humorous affect of Mr. Ryan believing her story. Nadia got out of her anger state and became excited about meeting Vladislav the next day.

'What am I going to wear?' she asked herself and ran up to her room.


	5. A Little Coco

**Chapter 4**

**A Little Coco**

The Next Day…

Nadia got up early the next day, 6:00 to be exact. She was so excited about meeting Vladislav. She had had guys as friends before, but never did anything like this with them. All that Nadia knew for sure was that Vladislav was turning out to be a nice guy. He had let her use his shirt and gave her a ride home when she was stranded. She looked in her closet for a nice outfit that said, "I'm am a _nice girl_ and want to get to know you." She looked up and down her closet and finally found the perfect. She chose a light blue tank top, white jeans, a light yellow scarf, black boots and a white coat. Nadia even put on some makeup, something she didn't usually do.

At 7:00, Nadia was finished getting ready and had plenty of time to spare. She went down to the hotel restaurant to get some breakfast. There was only one other person in the restaurant besides herself and the waiters. She ordered a small roll with butter, just to hold her stomach before she met up with Vlad. As she was eating her roll, she remembered something that would make it very difficult to see him. She had to go to the ski slope with her group. At first, Nadia thought that if she told them she didn't want to go, they would be happy because then they could be alone. But then, reality struck her. If they knew that she had a new friend and wanted to see him, they would do anything to keep her from being happy. Nadia chose the last option on her list, something that she had never wanted to do, but had to do. She was going to fake sick.

"Ugh, I really don't feel well Mr. Ryan." Whined Nadia, "My vision is blurry and I can't breathe through my nose."

Mr. Ryan looked at her with worry, "Maybe you should stay here."

Nadia faked a cough, "No, I can't stay."

"You look awful Nadia." He said, "You're all flushed."

"To tell you the truth, I feel worse than I look." She said gloomily, "I guess I'll stay. It's for the best…"

Mr. Ryan patted Nadia on the hand and left the room. She could hear him in the hallway telling Tina and Gary about her staying back. Tina and Gary sounded so happy to hear that she was sick, and ran away to Gary's room to get ready. Nadia waited a few seconds until she couldn't hear anyone and then got up silently to check if the coast was clear. The hallway was empty so she took off her robe, which was covering her clothes and snuck out of the hotel.

When she was outside, she called for a cab that took her to the hotel where the USSR team was staying. She walked up to the door and asked in Russian, "Is this where the Soviet Olympic hockey team is?"

"Yes it is. Do you have a reason for being here?" the man replied.

"Yes, actually, I am supposed to go to the park with Vladislav Tretiak for some hot chocolate and…"

"All right, all right. Just go." He said, rudely.

Nadia smiled and went in. She asked what floor they were on and was told the top floor. Nadia walked up 5 flights of steps and reached the top. She knocked on the room labeled '306' and Vlad came to the door. He was in a pair of jeans and his shirt was off.

"Oh," he said with shock, "Hey Nadia."

Nadia blushed when she looked at him, "Am I early?"

He looked at the clock by his bed.

"No, actually, you're right on time."

"Oh, well that's good." She said, "So…"

Nadia and Vlad both looked like they had never seen each other before and both had no idea what to say.

"You look nice." Said Vlad quickly.

"Thanks!" said Nadia, "May I come in?"

"Oh, oh sure. Yeah!" He said, taking her coat.

Nadia came in, sat down on Vlad's bed and looked around his room. It was very neat. She got up and looked at a picture that he had on his nightstand. It was he and a young girl hugging each other. The girl had her lips on his cheek and looked happy. That's when it hit Nadia; he didn't have a crush on her. They were just going to be friends… nothing more. Vlad came out from the bathroom, fully dressed and looked at Nadia. He saw that she was looking at the picture with fear and embarrassment.

"That's my sister." He said.

Nadia almost choked on her tears that were starting to form in her eyes, "Your sister?"

"Yeah." He said, "Why, did you think she was my…" he started to say, "Because I've never had a… well, you get the idea."

Nadia giggled and said, "Me either. In fact, you're my first _real_ friend who's been a boy. I really only have one other friend besides you."

Vlad looked at her, dazed, and changed the subject, "So, let's get out of here! It's really nice out!" he said.

"It's 30 degrees!" she said.

"Yeah, I know." He said, happily.

Nadia laughed and said, "Okay, let's go!"

They walked out of the hotel and took Vlad's car to the park.

When they arrived at the park, Vladislav and Nadia got out of the car and walked over to the path. It went through the park and came out by a little food stand and an ice rink. They decided to go ice-skating after. As they walked, they talked about everything.

"So, how old are you? When's your birthday?" asked Nadia.

"I'm 27, going to be 28 on April 25th."

"Oh, well then, I have to get you a gift, considering it's April 20." said Nadia sweetly.

"How old are _you_? When's _your_ birthday?" he asked.

"23, March 7th." She replied.

They went back and forth asking each other questions until they reached the end of the path.

"One last question?" asked Nadia, "How long have you played for the USSR Central Red Army?"

"I've been playing in the CRA Organization since I was 17." He replied.

Nadia looked at him in awe, "17?"

Vladislav smiled at her. Nadia, open mouthed, put her head on his shoulder.

"That's amazing." She said.

They walked up to the little food stand and each ordered a hot chocolate and a big chocolate chip cookie. They went over, besides the ice, and sat down at a picnic table.

"So, are you glad you took a little time off from hockey?" asked Nadia.

Vladislav looked at her seriously, "I love hockey." He said, "I love it more than anything. When I thought about coming here with you, I really didn't know how I would feel. But now… I'm happy that I came… I can't even… You're a sweet girl."

Nadia smiled at him, "I liked you from the first time we started to talk, a few days ago. You seemed really nice and all I wanted to do was see you." She hugged him and said, "I really think that this is turning out well. Considering that I've only know you a few days."

"Yeah…" he said, "So, want to skate?"

Nadia smiled, meaning ''yes''.

Vlad and Nadia each got a pair of rental skates and went onto the ice. Nadia, having not skated very much, fell as soon as she got on. Vladislav pulled her up and held onto her. Nadia blushed as her held her hand.

"Vlad, you're so good at this." Said Nadia.

He laughed and said, "I've had many years of practice."

Nadia looked up at him and said, "No… I mean…" She stopped because she knew that she was moving too quickly. Vlad was a pro hockey player and she was just Nadia. 'He's probably just hanging out with me because he feels sorry for me.' Thought Nadia.

"Yeah?" asked Vlad.

"Nothing…" said Nadia.

He looked at her, puzzled, then said, "You know, Nadia, I play hockey everyday and I enjoy it more than anything."

Nadia nodded.

"Or so I thought," he continued, "Since I started hanging out with you, the past few days, I've felt different. Like, hockey isn't the only thing in my life that matters anymore."

Nadia smiled a little, "And… is that a good feeling?"

Vladislav stopped skating and looked at her, "It feels great. I can actually enjoy myself in places other than the ice rink."

"But what about Tikhonov? How will he feel about this?"

Vlad, all of a sudden, got very serious. "Please don't mention this to him." He said and stared deep into her eyes.

"I won't." She said.

Nadia and Vladislav skated a little more and then thought that they should leave. They only had a half of an hour left to make it to the rink on time.

"Don't worry, I'll go with you!" said Nadia.

"Thanks!" he said and they drove off in the direction of the rink.

It took about 20 minutes to get there from the park and they made it with 10 minutes to spare. Nadia and Vlad got out of the car and walked into the arena. Tikhonov spotted them on the way in and pulled Vladislav off to the side to talk to him.

"Why are you with that girl?" he asked.

"Because she's my friend." He replied, "Nothing's going on between us. We just went for hot chocolate."

"You know what love can do to you, Tretiak. That's why I quit playing, because I fell in love."

"That won't happen to me! Nadia and I are just friends!"

"Just make sure it stays that way."

"And, even if I _was _in love with her…" Vlad started to say, "I wouldn't quit."

"Oh no… this is how it started for me." Replied Tikhonov.

"She's a _nice_ girl but I've only known her for 3 days! How could I be in _love_ with her?" he asked, with a hint of sarcasm.

"Just be careful." Said Tikhonov, "Now hurry up and get your gear on!"

He walked away and Vlad went over to Nadia.

"Thanks for standing up for me." She said.

"No problem. I hope you don't mind staying here."

"No way, this is defiantly better than going to see skiing with Tina and Gary!" she said.

He laughed and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks." He said and went into the locker room.

Nadia sat down in a chair that was by the door and silently cried. The tears she cried were of both happiness and sadness. She was falling further and further in love him and couldn't help it. Maybe this was the love that she dreamed of. But, she couldn't help feeling sad because of his hockey. He was an amazing player, and Tikhonov didn't want him to fall in love. 'Maybe this isn't love,' she thought, 'I mean, I've never been in love before… how am I supposed to know if it is happening?' Nadia got up, wiped the tears from her face and went into the rink to watch Vladislav.


	6. Passion

**Chapter 5**

**Passion**

Two weeks and 4 days later…

Nadia and Vlad had seen each other every day for the past two weeks and had gotten very close. (Too close for the likings of Tikhonov) They, somehow, always found a way to get together and were beginning to have different feelings for each other. Vladislav Tretiak, a Soviet hockey player, had a new opinion of Nadia. She wasn't just a friend to him anymore; she was beginning to become the one he loved. Nadia Petrova, a little Russian college student from the USA, also had different feelings toward him. She realized how much they had in common and how sweet and fun he was. She had also realized that she was falling in love. Both of them were too nervous to tell each other how they felt, though.

It was 10:00 PM. Vladislav and Nadia were in his dorm room, sitting on his bed. They were both thinking whether or not to tell each other how they felt. Vlad felt nervous and didn't know how she would react to him telling her. Nadia was scared that he wouldn't love her in return. She became afraid and hung her head. Vladislav looked at Nadia who had her head down and eyes full of sadness. He put his hand under her chin and lifted her head up. Nadia looked into his dark brown eyes and saw they were full of reason and trust giving her the courage to ask.

"Vlad…" she started to say, but he interrupted her.

"Nadia, I know that we have only known each other for about a month, but… I have spent so much time with you and…"

"All I want to do is be with you." She finished.

"Yeah… that." He said, "I know it's probably just a silly crush…"

"If so, then my crush on you is even sillier." She said, laughing a little.

Vladislav smiled and took her hand in his. Nadia took her other hand and stroked it through his wavy hair.

'He has a lovely smile.' She thought to herself as he took his hand and placed it gently on her shoulder, which was covered by a t-shirt.

'If I continue,' Vlad thought, 'I hope she doesn't mind.'

He took both of his hands and placed them on her hips and squeezed lightly. Nadia's cheeks colored with the good feeling this gave her and she sighed to slow her heart rate. Vlad's heart started to race a little, as he had never done this before. She put her hands on his chest and he held her close. He proceeded to kiss her neck while she giggled with delight and squeezed his legs. Vlad's breathing got heavy and he groaned with pleasure, something that he never thought he'd do. His hands went on her hips and she could feel his fingers slightly in her skirt.

"Ah… ah!" she cried as she squirmed.

Nadia, all of a sudden, fell over onto the bed with Vlad on top of her. They held off for a moment, their faces inches away from each other's. Then, Vlad leaned in and kissed Nadia who had her eyes closed, smiling. She felt his lips touch hers and tasted his warm tongue. Nadia pulled off Vlad's shirt and he threw it across the room. He pulled back the blankets on his bed and laid down. Nadia fell on top of him, panting.

"That was… amazing…" said Vlad, out of breath and tired.

"Otlichno…"said Nadia.

She rolled over a little and let Vlad have the bottom since he was heavier. She slowly laid her head against his hard chest and listened to his quickened heartbeat. He stroked her shoulder and noticed that she was more tired than he was. For him, it had felt like he had just played two hockey games in a row. All of a sudden, their silence was interrupted. Someone walked by their open door. They both were overcome with emotion, that they had forgot to shut it all the way. It was Vladimir Krutov, Vladislav's teammate.

"Whoa!" he said loudly and smiled, "Vlad, I didn't know you had a girlfriend."

Nadia looked shocked and embarrassed to see him standing there, while she was tired and just over her emotions.

"She's cute." Krutov said.

Nadia blushed with embarrassment.

"Get out of here Vladimir." Said Vlad, who laughed as he went to close the door.

"Hey, does Tikhonov know?" Asked Krutov.

"What do you think?" asked Vlad sarcastically, "And I hope he doesn't _find out_!"

"Hey, don't worry. I'm happy that you found a girl who loves you!" he said.

"Thanks." Said Vlad and closed the door.

He went back and sat on the bed.

"So… I guess we both feel the same way…" Said Nadia quietly.

"Yeah…" said Vladislav, who put his arms around her waist.

Nadia closed her eyes and smiled, "…I'm glad." She said and kissed him on the cheek. His face was smooth and warm. She laid down on the bed.

"You're my everything…" she said softly and slid close to him.

He was lying on the bed also and slid closer to her. She rested her head on his hard body again and closed her eyes. They both fell asleep in the bed woke up the next day.

Nadia awoke the next day from a loud noise from outside.

"Wha… where am I?" she asked, sleepily.

She heard a sigh and looked down to see Vladislav sleeping. She shook him and he woke up.

"Hi Nadia." He said.

"I stayed the night?" she asked.

"I guess so…" he said, "Wait, that's not good."

"I know! My teacher will be so worried!" said Nadia.

"Lets just hope Tikhonov doesn't find out. He won't be too happy!" said Tretiak.

"I'll call my teacher right now!" said Nadia.

She dialed the hotel and they put her through to Mr. Ryan's room.

"Hello, Mr. Ryan?" she asked, "This is Nadia Petrova."

"Nadia! Where are you?" he asked, frantically.

"I'm, well, at…" Nadia looked at Tretiak and he nodded. She sighed and said, "I'm with a friend."

"Who could you possibly know in Russia!" he asked.

"I met him at—."

"Him!"

"Yes. His name is Vladislav Tretiak."

"_The _Vladislav Tretiak? Goalie for the Red Army hockey team?"

"Yes, _the _Vladislav Tretiak."

"Well, at least you are staying with someone who has a good reputation." Nadia laughed and looked at Tretiak, who was smiling, shaking his head.

"But you still shouldn't have left your group without asking and stayed with someone you hardly know!"

"Well… actually I—." Nadia started to say.

"You've been so good the whole trip and the day before we leave, you go bad." Said Mr. Ryan.

Nadia dropped the phone in shock. The words, "The day before we leave" hung in her mind. Vlad mouthed the word "what." Nadia had been having so much fun that she had forgotten that today was her last day in Russia. Nadia picked up the phone from the ground and put it on the receiver, hanging up on Mr. Ryan.

She sat down on Vlad's bed, with a saddened heart. He sat next to her and put his arm around her for comfort. He kissed her on the cheek. Nadia grabbed his shirt and snuggled into it.

"I'll never leave you." She said.

"You have to, you don't have a choice." He replied, "I'll see you again, though… someday."

"Will you come to the airport to say goodbye tomorrow?" she asked.

"Of course." He said.

Vlad put his hands on Nadia's hips and she put her arms around his neck. They embraced lovingly and were unaware that Tikhonov had walked by their room. He stopped by the door and looked on as Vlad comforted a heart-broken Nadia. Tikhonov saw how serious he looked and how sad she looked. He also saw how pretty Nadia was. Wanting to know more, he knocked on the door.

Immediately, they came back and looked shocked to see him.

"Look coach, I'm sorry, but I love Nadia." Said Vlad.

"I know. And she loves you." Said Tikhonov.

Nadia blushed and nodded. Tikhonov walked over to Nadia and touched her face. Nadia's eyes got wide.

"She's very pretty." He said.

He smiled at Nadia and saw her glance at Vlad. Tikhonov took his hand from her face.

"Look, if it affects my game, take me out! But, I swear it won't!"

"I've always been able to trust you, Vladislav." Said Tikhonov.

"And besides, Nadia has to leave tomorrow." Said Tretiak, looking at Nadia.

She nodded sadly and said, "Well, I had better get going. My teacher will be waiting for me."

"See you tomorrow." Said Vlad.

"I'm sorry you have to go back home." Said Tikhonov, caringly.

He started to rub Nadia's hand while Vlad wasn't looking. Nadia felt this and wanted to get away from him. She didn't know if this would make a difference in the way Tikhonov looked at her, but she tried anyway. Nadia shared a deep kiss with Tretiak. Tretiak kissed her passionately back and she squeaked with delight.

When they parted, Nadia giggled and said "Bye." All she saw was that Tikhonov looked at her like he liked her. This scared Nadia because it was a know fact that Tikhonov was married. Besides, Nadia was way too young for him! Nadia walked out of the room and down the hallway. Viktor Tikhonov walked out of Tretiak's room and back to his. Tretiak looked out into the hallway from his room and watched Nadia walk down the hallway.

"Otlichno" means "excellent" in Russian


	7. Leaving Forever

**Chapter 6**

**Leaving Forever**

The Next Day at 10:00…

Everyone was at the airport. Their entire luggage was in a pile by the airplane and all of the students were excited to be going home. All except one. Nadia stood with Amy while the students were getting ready to board the plane. Nadia was looking for Vladislav who said he would come to say goodbye to her. Tina and Chelsea walked over to Nadia who was looking all around for where he might be.

"Are you looking for that boy that you stayed with?" asked Chelsea.

Nadia looked shocked that she knew about her and Vlad.

"Yeah, Mr. Ryan told everyone that you are 'more than just friends' with Vladislav Tretiak." Said Tina, "So, where is he?"

"Why do you care?" asked Nadia with tears forming in her eyes, "All you want to do is make fun of me!"

"Duh!" said Chelsea, "And besides, we're leaving now, so there's no way that your little crush can make it."

"I can't believe you _actually _thought that someone great like that could even think twice about you! He was obviously using you for his own pleasure!" said Tina.

Nadia looked down sadly and Chelsea and Tina walked to their boyfriends, laughing.

'Maybe they're right.' Thought Nadia, 'Maybe he doesn't care about me. No, he defiantly does! He loves me! He chose to almost give up his innocence with me.'

Nadia heard Mr. Ryan calling to her to get on the plane. She nodded and took one last look at the land, hoping for a sign of Vladislav. And then, she saw it.

Nadia saw Vlad come running from the parking lot in her direction. Nadia smiled with tears of joy running down her face. When he reached her, all of the students looked at him. Most of the girls looked shocked to see a man with looks like that standing with Nadia.

"I didn't think you would make it." Said Nadia.

"I wouldn't just let you go off in your plane back home with out saying goodbye first." He said and handed Nadia a small box.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Open it." He said.

Nadia opened the box and saw that it held a silver necklace with a red heart pendant on it. "Wow, it's beautiful!" Said Nadia.

"You like it? That's good." Said Vlad, "I really didn't know what to get you."

"Oh!" exclaimed Nadia, "I almost forgot to give you your birthday present. I know your birthday already passed, but…"

She held out a small bag to him and he opened it. In it was a small bear with a Red Army hockey shirt on.

"I made the shirt.' Said Nadia.

"This is awesome!" said Vlad, hugging Nadia.

They stopped for a minute and looked deep into each other's eyes. Nadia put her lips on his and kissed him lightly. She pulled away and saw in his eyes that he wanted more. He reached in to kiss her again, and this time gave her more than she bargained for, giving her a little tongue. Nadia smiled as she kissed him, tasting his sweetness. They parted from their kiss and looked at each other. Vlad slowly ran his hands up Nadia's side. Nadia gently ran her fingers through his hair. Vlad took one of his hands and lightly touched Nadia's lips. Mr. Ryan finally said something.

"Okay, you two." He said, "That's enough."

Nadia and Vlad came back to reality and realized that everyone was watching them.

"Sorry." Nadia said softly, "Thanks for coming, Vlad."

"I'll miss you." He said, "But I'll be training hard! That's always good!"

"Yeah." Said Nadia and giggled, "Bye."

Nadia walked onto the plane after everyone else was on.

"Good bye Nadia Petrova!" said Vlad.

'Good bye.' He said to himself, sadly.

He watched as the plane took off and flew into the sky. Vladislav, sadly, walked back to his car and drove away.

On the plane, Nadia sat next to Amy.

"So, how was it?" Amy asked.

"How was what?" replied Nadia.

"You know! Kissing that guy."

"Oh… it was lovely. I'm going to miss his laugh, the way he was nice no matter what, his lips, the way he tasted when I kissed him, the way he held me, the way he ran his fingers up my sides, the way—."

"Okay, Nadia!" said Amy, "I don't think you should say the next thing!"

"Yeah…" said Nadia sadly.

"So, did you?" said Amy.

"Did I _what?_" asked Nadia.

"You know… did you—?"

"_Amy!_" screamed Nadia.

Everyone looked at her.

"Sorry." She said and continued to talk to Amy. "Of course not!" said Nadia, "When I do, it will be a few years after knowing him. Not a few weeks."

"Do you love him?" asked Amy.

"I think I'm beginning to." Said Nadia, "I already love everything about him, and he about me."

"So, did you meet anyone that I might like?" asked Amy.

"Maybe," said Nadia, "I think you would go well with Vladimir Krutov. He's sweet."

"Yeah?" asked Amy.

"Yeah." Said Nadia.

After that, Nadia and Amy didn't talk for a while. Everyone fell asleep on the plane and when they got back, it was nighttime in the USA. All of the students took the bus back to their school and went to their rooms to sleep.


	8. Long Days and Nights

**Chapter 7**

**Our Time Apart**

The Next Day…

Nadia awoke thinking that it had all been a dream and that she would wake up in her hotel room in Russia. She was sad to find that she was in her dorm room, with everything back to normal. Sally was in the bed next to hers, sleeping still. She woke her up and Sally looked surprised to see her.

"Nadia?" she asked, sleepily.

"Hey Sally." Said Nadia, "How's everything been?"

"Oh, good, good. Everything's been good." She said, "How was Russia?"

"When you wake up I'll tell you everything. About the trips, about the hockey, about Vlad, about—."

"What!" asked Sally, shocked.

"I knew that would get your attention." Said Nadia, "I met a boy in Russia."

"Tell me all about him."

"Okay. His name is Vladislav Tretiak and he is the goalie for the Red Army hockey team."

"I've heard of him!"

"Yeah, well, he's 6-foot-1, he has dark brown eyes and wavy, brown, soft hair, the sweetest kiss and the nicest—."

"Okay! I get it!" said Sally, "So, Where'd you meet him?"

"Well, I bumped into him in a restaurant and he spilled soda on me, then he let me borrow a shirt and I returned it the next day and we went to the park and…"

"Slow down Nadia!" said Sally, "So, do you have a crush on him or something?"

"We love each other." Said Nadia, dreamily, "We had some pretty fun times… at the park, the hockey rink, his room…"

"Ooh, his room?"

"Yeah… that was great," said Nadia, dazed. Nadia was missing him already and couldn't find anything to say to make herself feel better.

Throughout the year, Nadia got a little better. At first, she couldn't go to any of the Russian language group meetings because of her sadness. Mr. Ryan convinced her to come back, though. Nadia often cried during the week, thinking of her long lost love, Vladislav Tretiak. She wondered if he remembered her, or even wanted to see her again. Meanwhile, Vlad was dealing with this his own way.

Vladislav kept going to practice everyday and tried not to think of everything that he and Nadia did together. When he did, though, he became happy and sad at the same time. Happy for the memories and sad for the longing of Nadia. He kept the bear that she gave him in his hockey bag and looked at it every time he opened it. Vlad often thought of going to see Nadia, but was reminded that he had to stay to practice for the Olympics. That's when it hit him like a bullet.

'Nadia and I can reunite at the 1980 Winter Olympics!' he thought, 'But, I don't know how to get in touch with her. I hope she realizes that I'm going to be there!'

November 12th…

"Okay kids." Said Mrs. Hiller, "I have some extra credit assignments that you can volunteer for!"

Everyone sighed.

"Now, now," she said, "These will be fun."

Everyone rolled their eyes. How could extra-credit _possibly_ be fun?

"Okay, I've written them on the board. Please tell me what project, if any, you want to do."

All of the people in the class looked at the board and read the projects. Many of the people wanted to do the "Save the Animal Shelter" project.

Tina and Chelsea, along with their friend Halley, asked Mr. Hiller if they could do the project on the 1980 Winter Olympics, where they would interview some players, watch their strategy, and write a report on the importance of teamwork. No one else wanted to do this because they thought it would be too much work. The three of them wanted this project because they liked the hockey players. Ever since Tina and Chelsea had broken up with their boyfriends, they had been trying to find hot guys to date. Nadia didn't want to do any of them and was too tired to explain why. She and Sally sat in the back of the class, talking, while everyone else got a project.

A Week Before the Opening Ceremony…

Nadia was flipping through TV channels in her room with Sally. They had just come back from walking outside and wanted to rest a little. Nadia had the remote and was quickly flipping through the channels.

"Just pick something." Said Sally.

"Fine." Said Nadia angrily and turned the channel once more.

It was the news and the reporter was giving details on a hockey game that had recently taken place.

"Okay, let's watch something else." Said Nadia, sadly.

"Wait! Lets watch this." said Sally.

"Fine." Said Nadia glumly.

The reporter was talking about the challenge cup game with the NHL All Stars and the USSR team.

"Oh my gosh…" said Nadia.

The TV showed a team of big men in red uniforms winning the game 6 to 0. These men were, of course, the Red Army team that Nadia had spent so much time with.

"Good job Vladislav!" Nadia screamed, "Oh, I love you!"

Nadia suddenly got a thought.

"What if _we _go to the Olympics?" she said.

"How can we? The Olympics are during the time we have classes and how are we supposed to get tickets?"

"Okay, let me call Mrs. Hiller!" she said excitedly.

Nadia dialed Mrs. Hiller's number and talked to her about the Olympic project. Mrs. Hiller had said there was one opening left for the project.

"Please! Let Sally come too!" she begged, "She and I are best friends and I don't want to be alone with the Terrible Three!"

"Nadia! That's so wrong!" said Mrs. Hiller, "I'll only let her come if you two promise not to get into trouble with guys!"

Nadia laughed and said, "I promise."

"I _did _have one other ticket, but it was for me," She said, "But, if Sally wants extra credit… she can gladly have my ticket."

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Hiller!" said Nadia and hung up.

Nadia smiled big at Sally and said, "Pack your bags, we're going to Lake Placid!"


	9. Reunited

**Chapter 8**

**Reunited**

The First Day of the Olympics…

Nadia, Sally, Tina, Halley, and Chelsea got to Lake Placid the day of the opening ceremonies. Nadia and Sally were excited about this project. Nadia, as you recall, loved hockey even though she never got a chance to play and was looking forward to seeing Vladislav Tretiak again. Sally wasn't as interested in hockey as Nadia was, but was looking forward to meeting a boy for her. Sally only had one boyfriend before then and had loved the feeling of being in love. Tina, Chelsea, and Halley were there strictly to meet hot guys. They could care less about the extra credit. Halley and Tina had become more and more like Chelsea's followers since the trip to Russia.

"Okay little girls," said Chelsea meanly, "here's how it's going to work. Your two will do everything and—."

"Then what will _you_ three do?" asked Sally.

"Duh! Meet hot guys! I heard the USA team is full of them." Said Tina.

Nadia sighed, "Fine… we'll do the interviews and watch the hockey, but you three _have_ to help with the report. I mean it _is, _on teamwork."

"_Fine!_" said Chelsea, "We'll _help _with the report. But right now, were going to do big girl things. Run along now kiddies! The things that we are going to do you've probably never even heard of!"

Halley and Tina laughed at her comment and nodded to each other.

"Well, maybe Nadia has heard of these things! I mean, she _did_ almost do it with her goalie!" said Tina.

"Shut up!" said Nadia, "We are just friends!"

Nadia knew that this was one of the biggest lies she'd ever told.

"Oh yeah! That's why you two made out at the airport and had a little sleepover!" said Chelsea.

"Just shut up!" said Sally.

Sally was the oldest out of the five of them, but the smallest, besides Nadia. She was 26 years old and in her last year of college. Tina was 23, Halley was 21, and Chelsea was 24.

Chelsea pushed Sally against the wall. The three of them laughed and walked away.

"Okay…" said Nadia, "I'm very excited about seeing Vlad again! Can we please go find him first?"

"Yeah." Said Sally.

They walked down a long hallway. As they neared the door at the end of it, they could hear men speaking in Russian. Nadia, being Russian, understood what they were saying. She heard someone say, "I'm hungry," and automatically knew who it was. Nadia ran down the hallway happily and burst through the door. All of the men looked at her in shock.

"Nadia!" someone shouted.

She turned around to see Vladimir Krutov.

"Wow! It's so nice to see you!" he said.

"Likewise!" she said, "Where's Vladislav?"

"On the ice! He'll be so happy to see you!" Krutov said.

Nadia, forgetting that she wasn't allowed on the ice with sneakers, ran onto the ice and slipped about half way to the goal. She slid over to the net on her knees and saw Vlad look at her. He slowly took of his mask and looked into her eyes.

"Nadia…" he said.

She stood up and went a little closer to him.

"I missed you." She said quietly.

Vlad leaned in to kiss her but Nadia fell on her butt. They both started laughing hysterically at what had just happened.

"I'm sorry!" she said, tears of laughter rolling down her face, "Now, where were we?"

Vlad leaned in to kiss her again, but this time held her legs still so she was safe. They shared a nice kiss.

Meanwhile, Sally had just come in the door and was puzzled as to what was going on.

"Hi." She said.

"Who are you?" asked Vladimir Petrov, coldly.

"I'm Sally Zhao, Nadia's best friend."

"Oh, well, hi." He said, "Nadia's talking to Vlad right now. Maybe you should wait here for a little while."

"Okay." She said.

Sally looked around at the hockey players and saw one in particular that she liked. He was tall, maybe 6-foot-2 with dark brown short hair and a sly expression.

'I have to ask Nadia about him.' She thought.

"What have you been up to lately?" asked Nadia.

"Same old things… hockey, that's about it. How about you?"

"Not much. School, hanging out." She replied.

Nadia didn't feel as comfortable around him as she thought she would.

"I thought you would have forgotten about me." She finally said.

Vlad looked at her with shock, "Of course not! How could I ever forget that smile?"

Nadia blushed.

"And the way you blushed so innocently at every complement I gave you," He continued, "The way you were so new in a relationship and yet knew exactly what to do."

"I could never forget you." She said, "The way you kissed me with such passion, like you had known me for years."

Vlad nodded.

"Why are we talking about things that happened in the past?" she asked, "We should be doing something fun, getting a snack, you know, something that friends like us do."

"That sounds good." he said.

"After we can go to your room… and…"

"I'm sorry, I want to, but it might hurt my game." He said, "I have been training so hard for so long, just for this moment. I can't let my team down because I was thinking only of myself."

"I understand, I'm sorry…" she said, "You think of the best for your team."

"Maybe after the Olympics, we can…" he started, but stopped because Nadia already knew what he was going to say.

She smiled and nodded.

"So," Vlad said, changing the subject, "Tikhonov was wondering if you were coming. That's surprising considering he told me not to fool around with you. He said I could hang out with you, though."

"Oh…" said Nadia, shocked.

"Look, I know that he was hitting on you." He said, "If he ever does that again, tell me. Unless you, well, liked him doing it."

Nadia giggled, "I'll tell you. That makes me quite nervous to know an older, _married_, man likes me."

Vlad looked into her big, hazel-brown eyes.

"I'll never forget how beautiful your eyes are."

Nadia hugged him and said, "I'm looking forward to the end of the Olympics."

She kissed him lightly on his lips and walked carefully off the ice. Midway she slipped and fell again, but Vlad came and picked her up and came off the ice with her.

"So Vlad," said Krutov, "What are you and Nadia planning on doing tonight?"

"We've both agreed not to do anything in that range until the Olympics end." Nadia said.

"Oh, then can we do something in the mean time?" he asked.

Sally immediately looked over at Krutov and Nadia. She wasn't used to Nadia getting spoken to in that manner.

Nadia playfully hit him.

"I thought it would be better for you guys if I didn't have any love on my mind." Said Vlad, "I mean, I'm still going to hang out with Nadia, but nothing that involves… well, yeah…"

"Than how come I just saw you two kiss?" asked Petrov.

Nadia blushed and said, "I just had to get that out of my system."

'I wish it could have been better than just a little peck on the lips.' Nadia thought.


	10. A Party Tonight

**Chapter 9**

**A Party Tonight**

Chelsea, Tina and Halley walked down the hallway going to the ice rink. It was crowed to capacity with hockey players from all over the world. Of course, the girls loved every minute of this. As they walked by the Norway team, a guy whistled at Halley and Chelsea gave her a dirty look. Chelsea always got jealous when a guy was more interested in her friend that in her. Tina, seeing what had happened, said, "Look over there girls! I spy some cutie American guys!"

Chelsea and Halley turned to look.

"Oh wow! They are super hot, especially the one with the goalie gear on!"

She was, of course, talking about Jim Craig.

"How about you, Chelsea? Who do you think…?"

Tina started, but turned to see that Chelsea wasn't there. She had walked over the USA captain Mike Eruzione.

"Um, hi." Said Chelsea, trying to sound like a sweet innocent girl, who she obviously wasn't, "Your Mike Eruzione, right?"

He smiled at her and said, "Well that's what my shirt says! But most of my friends call me Rizzo"

"Of course," She said, "Well, I heard that there is going to be a pretty cool party on the 7th floor of the athlete's hotel. I was wondering if you were going."

"Yeah, Brooks said it would be okay if we came back by 9:30 and only had one beer."

A party until 9:30 didn't sound like a very fun thing to Chelsea, but she wanted this guy so badly that she gave in. She didn't usually give in to anyone.

"So, do you want me to go with you?"

Chelsea said, giving her famous "I'm too hot for you to say no'" smile. Eruzione smiled at her and said, "Yeah, that would be great! Do your friends need dates? I have two buddies that are looking for hot girls!"

Chelsea gave Tina and Halley a smile and said, "That would be perfect."

She kissed Rizzo lightly on the lips and walked away. Halley and Tina saw her going so they followed. Rizzo jogged over to tell his buddies what happened. Chelsea was also discussing this with her friends.

"Ohemgee! He was so hot!" Screamed Tina, "I really need a date, now!"

"Don't worry girls. Rizzo said that he'll get you both dates with his hot friends."

"Did _he_ say that they were hot?" Halley asked cautiously.

"Ugh, of course not!" Said Chelsea, "I just said that!"

"Oh, good!" said Tina, "You know, I actually feel sorry for Nadia and Sally— wait, no I don't!"

"You know guys," said Halley, "They might have founddates too."

Chelsea and Tina looked at Halley like she was crazy.

"Are you kidding me?" Said Chelsea angrily, "Of course they don't! Nadia's little crush probably dumped her for a _real_ Russian girl!"

"Well, I'm just saying if they come to that party with boyfriends, I won't be surprised."

Tina shoved Halley and they all walked back to their room.

Meanwhile…

"So Nadia," Vlad said.

He and his team were in the locker room, along with Nadia and Sally.

"I heard the goalie from Team USA talking with some of his buddies. They said there was going to be a party in one of the floors of the hockey players hotel tomorrow night."

"That sounds like fun. Do you want to go?" she asked.

"I was just going to ask you the same thing." He said, "Yeah. I'll go."

"What about your coach? Is he okay with that?"

"Surprisingly, yes." Said Vlad, "He told me to obey his wishes, though. No—."

"I know," said Nadia, "No doing something that you'll regret later on. But, it would really be me that would pay the most, right?"

"How do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, I could get pregnant and—"

"Okay Nadia!" he said quickly, "I see your point!"

She giggled and said, "What? You wouldn't do it with me?"

Vlad started to laugh, "Of coarse I would! I mean, look at you!"

He ran his hands down her figure and she blushed.

Nadia looked over her shoulder and saw Sally sitting on the bench.

"I haven't been paying much attention to Sally." She said, "I was the one who begged her to come, too."

"Maybe she can go to the party too, with one of the guys." suggested Vlad.

"Yeah! But who?" she asked.

Nadia walked over to Sally, who was looking sad sitting on the bench.

"Hey Sally." She said, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, you remembered my name?" she said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry Sally. It's just that I haven't seen Vlad in a long time and--"

"So? You_ had_ to have me come! And for what? For me to watch you and Vlad make out every ten minutes?"

Nadia, for the first time, grew very angry with her best friend.

"Don't be like that! You know he means the world to me!"

"And I don't mean anything, right?"

Nadia sighed.

"Look, there's going to be a party tomorrow night and me and Vlad thought that you should take a someone. We can double date."

"I don't know anyone, though." Sally said, stiffly,"And the one guy that I thought was cute probably already has a girlfriend."

"_One_, only Vlad has a girlfriend and _two_, who did you think was cute?"

"The really tall guy with the brown hair." She pointed across the locker room.

Nadia looked and saw who she was talking about.

"That's Boris Mikhailov." Nadia said, "He's really good friends with Vlad."

"Can you ask him?" Sally asked.

"Sure." Said Nadia.

Nadia walked through the locker room and saw a couple of the guys changing.

"Nadia? Why are you in here?" asked Vladimir Krutov embarrassed, "I know you've seen Vlad's boxers but, that doesn't mean... you know what,nevermind."

Nadia stuck her tongue out playfully at Krutov. She knew that he was teasing her. Nadia asked Boris if he was interested in going with Sally to the party and he said, "Sure, she seems nice enough."

Nadia reported back to Sally excitedly.

"He said yes?" asked Sally.

"Yeah! You'll have fun! Boris is really sweet!" said Nadia.

"I am so excited!" said Sally, "Do you think the Terrible Three will be there?"

"Probably." said Nadia, "They only did this project to meet hot guys! Knowing what they'll be wearing and how some of these guys think, they'll havedates in no time!"

Vlad came over to Nadia and kissed her on the cheek.

"I thought you weren't supposed to do that." Said Nadia, slyly.

"It's only on the cheek," he said, "And besides, Tikhonov said he didn't want me to fool around, and this really isn't doing _fooling around_."

"Yeah, your right." She said, "So, do you want to get some pizza a little later?"

"Sure, I'll buy." He said, "Do you want to come, Sally?"

Sally looked shocked that he was inviting her along on their date. She saw Nadia smile at her, like she really wanted her there. That's when Sally realized that Nadia was a true friend, willing to stay with her even when she was falling in love. She felt silly for thinking that Nadia would abandon her. Sally still felt like she was intruding, though.

"No, that's okay, I'm going to work on the report." She said.

"Sure?" asked Nadia.

"Yeah, I'm sure." She said.

"Alright…" said Nadia, "Do you want me to bring you back a slice?"

"Okay," Sally said, "that sounds good."

Vlad patted Sally on the shoulder and left the locker room with Nadia by his side.

Sally sat in the locker room and sighed. Boris came over and sat down next to her.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey…" she said sadly.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing." She said.

"Okay, I may not know you," he said, "but anyone can see that something is bothering you."

"It's Nadia." She said.

"What about her?"

"She's falling in love with Vladislav and she's my best friend. I don't want our friendship to be lost because of her love."

"I know how you feel. Vlad and I were best friends, and I mean,we still are, but it's not the same. Love _does_ change things, but not always for the worst. Vlad and I can talk about women now without feeling awkward, thinking we've never had anyone special in our lives. Nadia's a sweet girl, and she won't leave you because of love. I remember when they met. It was at a restaurant and he spilled a soda on her. It was rather funny, actually. But, anyway...he let her borrow one of his shirts and then, it was all up hill from there."

"Have you ever had a girlfriend?"

"Once." He said, "She and I got along great until I found out she was cheating on me with Valery Kharlamov. Well, I'll tell you, I'm not friends with _him_ anymore!"

"That's what happened to me…" said Sally, "He was dating another girl the whole time… I never even knew, until Nadia told me."

"I'm sorry." He said.

"I'm sorry for you too." She said, "Well, since we're kind of going on a date tomorrow, we should probably know a little about each other."

"I agree. My name is Boris Mikhailov, I'm 36 years old, I am the captain of the USSR team and I am 6-foot-3."

"I'm Sally Zhao, I'm 27 years old, I am in my last year of college, and I am 5-foot-7."

"You're 27?"

"Yeah… a little young, I know. If it's too young, I'll understand."

"No, no, it's great."

"How long have you known Vlad?"

"It has to have been 9 years now. We go way back, even though I'm way older than he is."

"Same with me and Nadia."

Sally and Boris talked for a few hours, even when everyone had left the continued to talk. Sally thought that they could develop a good friendship over time and maybe even something more.

Later…

"Oww, hot! Shoot!" said Nadia.

She bit into the smoldering hot cheese on her pizza and it burned her tongue.

"What?" Asked Vlad.

"I burned my tongue!" she said.

"Let me see." He said.

She stuck out her tongue like a first grader at the doctor's office and Vlad looked at it.

"It's really red." He said.

"Too bad I can't put a band-aid on it." She said, with her tongue still sticking out.

"If I wasn't in training right now, I'd know exactly how to make it better." He said, slyly.

"Vladislav Alexandrovich Tretiak!" Nadia said, trying to sound like his mother, "Now that'll be enough of that kind of talk!"

"Yeah, I probably shouldn't say that." He said, "At least… not right now."

He grinned,picking up Nadia's pizza. Hetook a big bite out of it.

"Hey!" she said, grabbing his pizza and eating the crust off of it.

"Hey, that's my favorite part of it!" he said to her.

"Have mine." She said, "You already devoured most of it."

He laughed and ate her pizza. Nadia laughed at how fast he ate it. She turned around to get some napkins and saw everyone looking at them. Well, they were mostly looking at Vlad in shock to see a Soviet talking like that to a woman. Nadia glared at them and continued to eat. As Nadia and Vlad were eating, Halley walked by the pizza place. She looked in the window at them and couldn't believe her eyes. Her first instinct was to tell Chelsea and Tina, but then she thought about it and decided not to. You see, Halley wasn't as evil as the other two were. She was actually happy to see Nadia enjoying herself. Halley looked in again and saw Vlad take a sip out of Nadia's soda.

'That must be Vladislav.' She thought.

She saw Nadia take a straw and shoot the wrapper at him. They both laughed and looked like they were having fun.

'The only difference between their relationship and the one's I've had,' She thought, 'is that they are friends as well.'

Halley thought about this and walked away, back to her room.


	11. A New Side of Them

**Chapter 10**

**A New Side of Them**

The Next Night…

"Well, it's almost time! I am so excited!" Said Halley.

She, along with her friends, was getting ready for the party. The same party that Nadia and Sally had just went to get ready for. Halley was getting changed into a light blue and white sleeveless top with tight blue jeans.

"I am too, Halley! I can't wait to see what my dream man looks like!" said Tina.

She was getting changed into a black and white tube top with a black skirt.

"Tina, how can he be you're _'dream man'_ if you've neverseen him?" asked Chelsea sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

Chelsea was already in her outfit. It was a pink halter with tight blue jeans.

"I can't wait to see what Rizzo says about my outfit! He's such a sweetie!" said Chelsea, "I wonder what we'll do tonight?"

She smiled evilly after saying this. The two other's also smiled, thinking about what they would to that night. Their thoughts were interrupted by noise in the hotel hallway. It was Nadia and Sally talking on their way to their room. Chelsea went next to the door to hear what they were talking about.

"Well, I just realized something Sally." Said Nadia, "I have no outfit to wear."

Chelsea snickered when she heard this, still unaware that she was talking about the party.

"Don't worry Nadia, we can surely find something nice!" said Sally.

"Okay, I am still in shock that I saw Vlad again." said Nadia.

Hearing this, Chelsea's mouth opened wide with disbelief.

'_Again?_' she thought.

She motioned for Tina and Halley to come and listen.

"I'm happy for you. I'm so happy that Boris said yes!" said Sally, "I can't believe he and I are going to this party!"

"I am very excited about this party, too!" said Nadia, "Vladislav is the greatest…"

Chelsea and Tina looked at each other in shock! Halley gave her famous "Of course I'm right!" look.

"Oh don't even say it!" said Tina.

"Wait a minute!" said Chelsea, "You may have been right about the boyfriends, but how do we even know if they're cute? I mean, besides Nadia's Soviet boyfriend. Who is this Boris guy anyway?"

"You're probably right Chelsea. He's probably stupid and ugly!" said Tina.

"Duh!" said Chelsea, "And besides, they're not even from this country! They are from Russia!"

"Ohemgee! Communists?" exclaimed Halley, who was shocked.

"Leave it to Nadia and Sally to pick Soviets in the middle of the Cold War!" said Tina, "They are such traitors!"

Of course Vlad and Boris weren't communists, but it made Tina and the other two feel good to make fun of the guys. Chelsea laughed a little and went to put on makeup and finish primping for the party. Halley went to do her hair and Tina went to look at herself in the mirror to make sure she looks absolutely perfect.

_Meanwhile…_

"I told you…" whined Nadia, "I have nothing to wear."

Nadia did not like to whine, but this was an emergency.

"Nadia. The great thing about Vladislav and Boris is that they won't care how we look. Boris doesn't know me yet, but…" Said Sally reassuringly, "You and Vlad already have a special relationship."

Nadia smiled at her best friend, feeling lucky to have such good advice.

"Thanks, Sally! I know they won't care, but I will. I don't want to look like a slob."

Nadia, feeling like hope was lost, looked down into her suitcase. There, she spotted her black and white plaid skirt and red coat.

"I forgot I brought this." Said Nadia, surprised, "I think I can fix this up a bit and make it look really neat!"

"Hey Nadia," said Sally, "I think I found my outfit." Sally held up a pair of jeans and a purple coat.

"Hey Sally, use this too!" said Nadia, throwing her a pink and white scarf.

"Thanks!" said Sally, starting to change.

"Okay, now all I need to do is..." said Nadia, getting undressed, "put this together right!"

_The Party…_

"You're a great dancer, Chelsea!" said Rizzo.

She flashed a smile at him.

"I know, right!" she said in one her most snobbiest voices.

She was also looking around to see if Nadia and Sally had shown up with their dates. So far, she only saw hockey players, people she didn't know, and her friends. Tina danced her way over to Chelsea with OC right behind her.

"I am totally loving this! OC is such a cutie! If you need me, I'll be..."

OC had his and around Tina's waist and pulled her away before she finished. Chelsea was starting to get jealous that Rizzo wasn't trying to kiss her or anything. Her friends were making out and having a blast and all she was doing was dancing.

"Hey Rizzo," she started, "Let's go back to your room and well… you know."

Rizzo kind of got red and started sweating a little.

"Well, um Chelsea. I really like you, but I just can't do that."

Chelsea's face turned paper-white as she looked at Eruzione.

"What!" she shouted at him, "Are you joking! No one says '_no_' to me!"

"Look, I'm sorry but things like that mess up my game! I just can't do that to my team." Said a worried Rizzo, "People like Jack can act that way and it won't do anything to they're game. But me… well, it just doesn't work."

Chelsea went from white to beat red with anger.

"You think you can stand me up! Well, guess what, _YOU CAN'T!_"

"I'm not standing you up, I just can't do it!" he said with a hint of anger in his voice.

"I, you... _you_!" Chelsea stuttered. She couldn't find anything to say to him because she knew he was making perfect sence. She ran out of the room, pushing people out of her way.

Tina and Halley saw the whole thing, in between kissing of course, and ran to see if Chelsea was okay.

"Chelsea, are you alright?" asked Halley in a worried tone.

Chelsea was crying and her eye makeup was running down her cheek.

"Do I _look_ okay?" she snapped, "I was such a jerk to Rizzo!"

Halley and Tina looked at each other in awe. They both thought the same thing;

'Chelsea must have really liked him if she was calling herself a jerk, something that she has never done in her whole life!'

"The truth is…" Chelsea started, "is that Rizzo was a great guy. I've never met a guy like him in my whole life! Most of the guys I've dated have been real jerks but were, like, super _hot_ so I didn't really care! But Mike Eruzione is like, just… everything."

Chelsea hugged her friends and they went back to the party.


	12. It Was Too Close

_Back at the party..._

Chelsea was dancing with Rizzo. They made up and were getting along great. Rizzo was admiring Chelsea in every way possible and Chelsea was telling him that he was right about everything he said. Chelsea took a break from dancing to see her friends.

"Well, so far no sign of the babies!" said Chelsea, "I bet they chickened out! They are so…"

Tina started but was interrupted by something that caught her eye. In the door way of the room was Nadia and Sally, along with their dates, Vladislav Tretiak and Boris Mikhailov.

"I hate them!" said Chelsea.

Nadia and Sally looked around the room. Most of the people were staring at them because of their dates. No one had expected to see Soviets at this party. Vlad put his hand on Nadia's shoulder and said, "They'll stop staring. Don't worry."

Nadia blushed, then looked at him and said, "Why would I worry. I'm with you at a party, what could be better?"

He gave her a grateful smile and they followed Sally and Boris, who went to dance.

"I like your outfit." Said Vlad.

"Thanks!" said Nadia. She had her red coat on, along with a black scarf, her black and white skirt and red shoes..

"I never thought I'd see a you in a mini skirt." He replied.

She giggled. Just then, Eruzione and Jim Craig came over to Nadia and Vladislav.

"Hey, Vladislav." Said Eruzione, in a friendly tone.

Rizzo was a nice guy and didn't care that Vlad was on the hated Red Army team.

"Hello." He said in a rather surprised voice, "Your team has gotten a lot better since the last time we played you."

"Thanks, man." Said Jimmy, "I see your team is still doing good."

Vlad could tell that he intimidated Jim. He was the best goalie in the world and Jim was just a college goalie.

"Yeah, we're doing good so far." Said Vlad lightly, "Oh, this is Nadia."

"Hey Nadia." Said Eruzione.

"Yeah, I've known her for a while." Said Vlad smiling at Nadia and putting his arm around her waist.

"Well, we'd better get back to our dates." Said Eruzione seeing Vlad do this, "See ya, Vladislav."

Nadia smiled up at her 6-foot-1 boyfriend, "They seem nice."

"Yeah, they have never been a mean bunch of guys." Said Vlad, "Well, let's get out of here! I think our suite is empty right now!"

Nadia blushed and took his hand.

"We can _talk_ there." She said innocently.

_Meanwhile…_

Eruzione and Craig went back to their dates after their talk with Nadia and Vlad.

"Well, that was cool." Said Craig, "It's not everyday that you get to meet a hockey legend."

"I saw you guys talking to his girl." replied OC, "She was hot!"

"Wait OC..." Said Tina, "Did you just call Nadia _hot?_"

"You know her?" asked OC.

"Yeah, we know her. She and her stupid friend Sally are in college with us!" said Chelsea, "Sally the sports freak is like 27 and little, slutty Nadia is 23."

"Just because Nadia can't get a boyfriend in the entire United States, doesn't mean that she should try in the Soviet Union!" said Halley in disgust.

Jim, who had his arm around Halley, pulled away.

"Hey, Halley. Those guys are just hockey players, most of them hate the Soviet laws!"

"But the scary thing is that they are only in college and they're dating Soviet _men_!" said Chelsea.

"Well Vladislav isn't in his 30's yet." Said Eruzione, "But Boris Mikhailov, who is dating your other friend, is in his _mid_-30's."

"That's so gross! Sally is dating a 30 year old!" said Tina, "And she is _NOT_ our friend!"

"Ohemgee! That is _so_ like Sally!" cried Halley, "I mean, after I saw Nadia and Vladislav at the pizza place, I—."

"What?" exclaimed Tina.

"You didn't tell _us_ this!" cried Chelsea.

Craig, who had been thinking for a little while, finally said, "To tell you the truth, I didn't know that the Soviets were _allowed_ to have girlfriends. I know that Vladislav is a nice guy, but I just can't imagine him with a girlfriend."

OC and Eruzione both nodded at this comment.

"I defiantly can't picture _Mikhailov_ with a girl." Said OC and laughed.

"Yeah!" said Rizzo, laughing.

"But still, I just can't believe that a guy like Vlad can get a girl like her!" said OC, "I mean, I bet she's really _good_!"

Tina gave him an evil look and pushed away from him.

"Shut up!" she said, "It's over between us!"

"Okay." said OC, "Now I can go after Vlad's girl!"

Tina screeched with fury and stomped away.

_The Soviet Hotel Suite…_

Nadia and Vlad had found Sally and Boris and were now in the Soviet Union's team hotel suite. They sat on Vlad's bed.

"Can I trust you not to tell anyone this?" asked Vlad, "I've been holding this in for quite a while, because I could get arrested if I said this back home"

"I hope you can trust me. You've known me for quite a while."

"Okay… I wish I could play for the Canadian Blackhawks in the NHL! I'm sick of the Soviet government not letting me do anything except play hockey for the Red Army!"

Nadia looked at him, "Then why don't you quit."

Vlad laughed, "Are you kidding? I couldn't quit. I could get arrested! If they knew that I wanted to play in North America, my family and my friends could pay the price for me!"

Nadia gasped and fell over onto his hard body.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know!" She said quickly.

"It's alright. Wait, no it's not… it's not right that I can't leave! That means that in order for you and me to be together, you would have to move to Russia and live by all of _our_ rules."

Nadia put her finger on his lips and smiled. He stopped talking and looked at her with wide eyes. Nadia stroked her hand through Vlad's soft, wavy brown hair. She was staring into his big brown eyes. They were very deep and Nadia had forgotten how nice they were until now.

'This guy is everything. I forgot how lovely he is. Too bad we can't…' She thought.

Vlad was also looking at Nadia. He looked at how nice she looked in a tube top and admired her graceful figure.

'Nadia is so beautiful…' He thought.

Vlad reached forward and put his hand lightly on Nadia's cheek. Nadia leaned forward to kiss him, but quickly stopped. She was afraid. Not of kissing him, for she had desired to kiss him since the first time she heard they weren't allowed to. She was afraid of distracting him and having him lose everything he had worked for.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly.

"No, I am." He said, "I know that I am supposed to stay focused and I didn't think. I just forgot because I was so excited about seeing you again."

"You should get some rest. The last thing you need is people scoring easy goals on you." "Yeah. Tikhonov wouldn't like that." Said Vlad, "Good night, Nadia." He kissed her on the cheek and she left.

Boris and Sally were lying on Boris's bed. Sally was snuggled up with him because she was incredibly tired. They had their eyes closed, talking about stuff.

"How long have you been team captain?" Sally asked.

"For the past 6 years." Replied Mikhailov, "Vlad's been starting goalie for a while, too. We've been friends for a while and…"

He stopped and lightly kissed Sally. For anyone watching this, it would have looked awkward to see one of the biggest Russians on the hockey team kissing a 27-year-old Asian American girl. She fell into it but quickly realized what she was doing and feared the same things that Nadia feared.

"Sorry… Good night." She said, quickly and left.

Boris felt very guilty for her leaving. He hardly knew Sally, but had a slight crush on her, and didn't want her to think he was awful.


	13. Talking With Tikhonov

Back The Party… 

"Hey Chelsea, me and the boys better get going." Said Rizzo.

Chelsea and he were dancing in one of the hotel rooms that were crowded with people.

"Why honey? The party's just getting started!" she replied in her sweetest tone.

"I know it's just starting and I wish I could stay! But Brooks will have all our butts if were late!"

Chelsea then tried batting her eyelashes at him but still he said, "I'm sorry, but I can't risk it!" Chelsea wasn't used to hearing the word "no" and wasn't taking it easily.

"But… you don't want to stay with me? But I'm, like, hot and well…"

Eruzione put his finger to her lips and said, "Tomorrow we play a big game and I can't let my team down. If we win that and keep winning, we eventually play the Soviet Union and they are the best team in the world. Would you really want me to lose to Nadia and Sally's boyfriends?"

Chelsea grew red in the face when he said this and said, "You need your rest sweetie!"

"Thanks."

"Just don't forget to give me a goodnight kiss!"

"Of course!" Eruzione leaned over and gave her a sweet kiss on the lips.

Chelsea gave him a playful shove and said, "I'll see you tomorrow."

_ Their Room…_

"Boris kissed me!" screamed Sally.

"Ahhhh! That's so cool! I didn't think he was that kind of guy!" said Nadia," Well, I was sitting with my wonderful Vlad and staring deep into his eyes and then, we remembered that it's not a good time to do… anything…"

"Same with Boris and me. He was kissing me and for a moment, I didn't care that it wasn't the right time! I just wanted him and nothing more."

Nadia and Sally both sighed with love in their voices.

"I can't wait for the Olympics to be over." Said Sally sadly, "Then I can get to know him better."

"At least until he goes back to Russia…" said Nadia who had started to cry, "I can't even imagine a life without Vlad anymore. He's my everything and I need him so badly. I've already been separated from him once and I don't want it to happen again."

Nadia and Sally hugged each other and cried.

_THE NEXT DAY!…_

Nadia and Sally had gotten dressed and went down to the hotel restaurant to eat breakfast. Sally had eaten quickly and left to go work on the report that they had just recently remembered to do. Nadia, however, stayed to think. After a few minutes of thinking of how to stay with Vladislav, Viktor Tikhonov came into the restaurant. He spotted Nadia and went to sit with her. Nadia felt a little awkward with the Russian coach sitting silently across from her at the small table. Then, he spoke.

"Nadia, I've heard Vladislav Tretiak talk a lot about you with his teammates. Some of them have become interested with you as well."

Nadia blushed.

'I should move to the Soviet Union! At least boy's are interested in me there!' She thought.

"One of them being Vladimir Krutov, my left wing."

"Vlad's friends with him." she said shyly.

"Yes, very good friends, in fact. But he trusts him very much not to try anything with you."

Nadia got beet-red with embarrassment as the Russian coach talked about this with her.

"Well, I am happy to hear this, I think." She said.

"Well, I just came by to tell you that Tretiak told me about last night." He said sternly.

"Look, Mr. Tikhonov…"

"Call me Viktor."

"Okay, _Viktor_… I am sorry about what I was doing. I forgot about his hockey game and how I could mess it up."

"No, no, it's quite okay." He said, "Tretiak was very upset that he let you walk out like that. He really likes you… a lot. He told me to come talk to you."

"I really would like to talk to _him_, though."

"He and the team are practicing. I told him it was okay for him to see you because I trust Vladislav. I know he won't do anything stupid."

"Thank you very much Viktor." Said Nadia.

"Let me ask you a question Nadia." He said quietly.

"Yes… anything!" she said, still overcome with joy.

"How badly do you want him?"

Nadia blushed again because of him asking such a personal question.

"More than anything…" she stopped because Viktor put his hand on her cheek.

She looked embarrassed and asked, "Excuse me…but, what are you doing?"

She had remembered a time, back in April, when Viktor had done this before. She was never comfortable when he touched her.

"You know, you are _very_ pretty." He said, "You should come back to Russia with us to be with him, except that would mean you could not see you family again."

Nadia felt awkward again. "What…?"

"Vladislav deserves to have someone like you, and you deserve to have him." He said.

He gave her a light kiss on the lips.

"What!" she said embarrassed, "What was that!"

"Nadia, I like you. You must know that." He said, "But Vladislav _loves_ you. You and he were meant to be together."

"Yeah…" she said, "I'm sorry, I know you didn't mean anything by it."

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you." He said and walked away.

Nadia just sat there, staring into space thinking, 'I can't believe he had the nerve to kiss me! How old is he, 60? But it was sweet of him to say those things.'

"I have to ask Vlad about this." She said quietly.


	14. The Rest of Our Lives

Nadia ran down to the ice rink. She had no time to spare if she was going to decide her future with the man she loved. As Nadia neared the ice rink, she could hear men talking in Russian with each other. Of course, she knew, this is where she would find Vladislav. Nadia ran through the door, tears streaming down her face, onto the ice and slipped.

"NADIA!" Boris cried, "What are you doing?"

Nadia stopped herself but not before Vladimir Petrov and Valery Kharlamov banged into each other trying not to hit her.

"Where's Vlad?" she cried.

"Hey sweetie, can you try not to run onto the ice while were practicing. It's dangerous." Said Petrov.

"That's what I call an understatement." Said Kharlamov, rubbing his side where he hit Petrov.

Krutov skated over to a rather frightened Nadia and put his arm around her to comfort her. He obviously didn't mind doing this.

"It's alright, Nadia. He's right over there." Nadia smiled up at him and gave him a hug.

"Thank you…" she said and glided over to Vlad.

For a moment, Vlad and Nadia stood about 3 yards apart, staring at each other, but then they both went towards one another. Vlad skated up to Nadia and threw off his helmet and embraced Nadia in his arms. Nadia smiled for the first time in a while and giggled.

"I missed you. When I met you, I didn't know if I would like you or not." He said, "I thought you were a little weird at first and just wanted to be friends with you, but that night back in April… and now… I can't imagine my life without you."

Vlad looked at Nadia and she looked back, then they both leaned forward and kissed passionately. They became so into each other that they forgot that the whole USSR hockey team was watching them in awe. Some of the guys, such as Vladimir Myshkin or Sergei Makarov, had never has such passionate experiences but very much wanted to. Nadia and Vlad then looked at each other in sadness and realized that it couldn't last.

"All right Tretiak!" said Kharlamov, "Come on! We have to practice! The US game is in two days!"

"Alright, I'll be right there!" Vlad yelled back, "Did Tikhonov talk to you?"

"Yes, and then he kissed me." Said Nadia.

"WHAT?" shouted Vlad.

"I don't know why." Said Nadia, "He put his hand on my cheek and hold me I was pretty and that you were very trustworthy and deserved to have someone like me. Then he kissed me."

"Oh, I thought it was a…"

"Oh don't worry! If I were to cheat on you, I would at least make sure it was someone younger than 40!"

Nadia giggled and Vlad smiled, knowing that she was joking.

"We'll talk later." He said.

Nadia waved good-bye to Vlad and started gliding off of the ice. Without her knowing, Krutov came from behind he and picked her up and skated her over to the exit.

"Here you are." he said.

"Thank you." She said, "That was very sweet."

She knew that Vladimir Krutov had a crush on her so she felt uncomfortable. Krutov smiled at her a little and this all felt strangely familiar to Nadia. This is how she and Vladislav fell in love. In fear of making a terrible mistake, she quickly said, "Bye." And left.

Nadia walked down the hall thinking about how much she love Vlad and how awful it would be to never see him again. Then, she thought of Krutov and realized something. Their meeting might have been similar, but one thing was very different. She didn't love him. Relieved, Nadia went to the lounge to help Sally with the report.

On her way down, she ran into the last people she had hoped to run into, Chelsea, Halley and Tina.

"Eww, it's Nadia!" said Halley, "Where's you 30 year old boyfriend?"

"Look, I don't have time for you three right now, and he's not 30, he's 28!" she retorted.

Chelsea glared at Nadia evilly, "Look you Soviet-dating slut," she said, "One: That report had better be done and Two: Your team is going DOWN!"

"Just get out of my way!" said Nadia, not used to being so obnoxious, "Go have with sex your boyfriend or something! I just need to see Sally."

"When since did you get so brave?" said Chelsea sarcastically and held her against the wall.

Nadia was strong but Chelsea was two years older than her.

"Go do the report like a good girl and we won't hurt you."

Nadia struggled a little and said, "That's exactly what I'm going to do! Sally is already in there working. I was just going to help."

"Well you better get moving then!" said Tina.

Chelsea let her go and Nadia ran.

"Oh, and by the way, everyone knows you're a traitor to the United States!" screamed Chelsea to her.

Nadia stopped and yelled back, "The US gives me freedom to love whomever I choose!" And ran to see Sally.

"Sally!" yelled Nadia to Sally, who was writing the report.

"Yeah, hey Nadia!" said Sally, "What's up?"

"I was talking to Vlad!" she said, "About our life…"

Sally put her paper and pen down and walked over to Nadia.

"Oh…" she said, "So, are you two getting along better?"

Nadia smiled, "It couldn't be better!"

Nadia then told Sally the whole thing, about Tikhonov, the ice rink, Krutov, and the terrible three.

"Wow, you've been having a rough day." Replied Sally, "I need to talk to Boris about this, too."

"Sally, listen to me." Said Nadia, "You can't tell anyone this!"

"Okay." She said.

"Alright… Vlad hates Russia, he hates the government and all of the rules it has! It forbids him from coming to North America to play in the NHL for the Canadians. He told me that's his dream."

Sally gasped, "Then what about Boris? I bet he hates it too!"

"I didn't ask him, but all I know is that Vladislav Tretiak would be a lot happier in the U.S.! He and I could stay here and I wouldn't have to move to Russia."

"But what about Tikhonov?"

"I don't know, but I'll try to find a way to get him and Boris to stay."

_That Night…_

Ah-ha! That's next Chapter!


	15. A Night to Remember

_That Night…_

Nadia called Vlad on the phone. He was in a different hotel than she was so she had to use the phone. The phone rang once, twice, three times and then he picked up.

"Hello?" said Vlad.

"Hi." Said Nadia, "I was thinking."

"About what, about how we will never see each other again? Or about how we may be able to see each other, but at a terrible cost?"

"Well, both, actually." She said, "Maybe you should come down to my room."

"Wait, maybe you should come to mine. We can talk with Tikhonov about this."

"Alright, I'll be right there." She said, and hung up.

Sally was sleeping, since it was 10:00 at night. Nadia thought about waking her up, but decided not to. This was something she and Vlad had to work out.

Nadia got to the door of the suite. There was a mirror at the end of the hallway so she quickly went to check herself. She had on a red blouse and white jeans and everything looked good. Nadia, after seeing how she looked, knocked on the door. Vladimir Petrov answered the door.

"Oh, it's you." He said rather harshly.

He shouted in Russian for Vladislav to come to the door. He came, looking happy to see her.

"Nadia…" he said, sounding like he was out of breath, "Tikhonov is here and can help us."

Tikhonov came out of what looked to be his room to the door.

"Hello Nadia." He said and put his hand on her shoulder.

Every time he touched her, she felt awkward.

"Listen," he said, "You and Vladislav should probably have some privacy to talk this over."

Nadia looked at Vlad and blushed. They both went into the room that Krutov and Vlad shared. When they got in, Vladislav turned off two of the three lights so the room was dimly lit.

"I've been thinking this over and don't see how we can make this work." Said Nadia calmly.

"I don't either," said Vlad, "This doesn't look good to me. We might never see each other again."

Nadia sat down next to Vlad on one of the two beds.

"Last week was the best week of my life," said Nadia, "It was so great to finally see you again."

She kissed him on the cheek to show her thanks.

"I didn't know a tough hockey player like you and a little girl like me could ever become…" she started, but was too dazed to finish. She only had one thing on her mind.

"Believe it or not, I didn't think so either." Said Vlad.

Nadia, who was feeling uncomfortable because of her thoughts, changed the subject.

"I'm a little chilly. Can I borrow a jacket?"

"Sure." said Vlad.

Nadia went into Vlad's dresser. She opened the first drawer and it held his boxers. She quickly closed it and giggled.

"What?" he said, "You've never seen my boxers?"

"Vladislav Tretiak!" she said with a raised voice, but quickly started giggling.

She got up and went to his closet. She found it held his uniforms, goalie gear, and, finally, a jacket. It was his red "CCCP" jacket that she had worn only once before and, even then it hung off of her.

Vlad laughed and said, "Come here, I'll keep you warm."

Nadia recognized this phrase from a long time ago. She had heard Red say this to Chelsea last April in Russia, before she and Vlad had met. Nadia and Vlad snuggled together on his bed. The same thoughts that were in Nadia's head went into Vlad's head and he also felt awkward. They both sensed each other's nervousness and parted.

"You know, I'm really hot now." Said Vlad, taking off his shirt.

Nadia looked him up and down and then touched his shoulder. He shivered a little and Nadia said, "Your freezing, aren't you!"

"Yeah." He said shivering.

"Put a sweatshirt on or something." Said Nadia being very concerned.

"Not just yet." He said.

Nadia caught on quickly and moved closer to him.

"I haven't been this close to you since last April. I missed it." Said Nadia.

She rested her head in his lap, looking up at him. He leaned over and kissed her lips.

"I missed the feeling of being in bed with you." She said.

Vlad blushed a little and said, "I missed your soft skin and the way you always knew exactly what to do."

"I never knew what to do." Said Nadia, jokingly.

Nadia felt him touch her shoulder and the sleeve of her shirt. Nadia started to unbutton her blouse and Vlad looked on as she tried to get the last button open. He slowly reached to help her and got it open. Nadia looked at Vlad and fell over on top of him, kissing his lips and all around them. Vladislav proceeded to take her blouse off and finally did so. He felt all over her arms, shoulders and around her hips. Nadia's giggles became very faint as she wrapped her arms around him and felt the muscles in his arm get tense, but then relax again. Nadia and Vlad looked at each other and stopped. They felt a little ashamed that they couldn't hold their emotions in of a few days. They both knew that Vlad had to focus on nothing but hockey and that Tikhonov was giving him a privilege by allowing him to see Nadia. They both stayed lying down on the bed, Nadia's head on Vlad's hard body. This was the same way they had laid when they told each other they were in love, back in April.

All of a sudden, Krutov walked into the room that he and Vladislav shared. He saw Nadia with her bra on, lying next to Vlad, who had his shirt off. Nadia screamed.

"What are you doing!" she asked, frantically trying to hide herself.

"What are _you _two doing in here?" asked Krutov, "With the lights dimmed and, well… Nadia with her… Wait? Were you two having—."

"Were discussing how to stay together when the Olympics end." Said Vlad, interrupting him.

"Oh, so _that's_ what it's called these days!" said Krutov sarcastically.

Nadia got up off of the bed and walked over to Krutov.

"Hey, um, I'm feeling a little uncomfortable right now, so could you, maybe leave?" she asked sweetly.

"Maybe…" he said.

"Please?" she said again.

He put his hands on Nadia's hips, and Nadia got a little angry with him.

"Please take your hands off of me." She said, "The only one who I allow to touch me is—."

"Tikhonov?" said Krutov.

"That's gross! Vlad is the only one that can, and you know it!" She said.

Krutov leaned forward and kissed Nadia deeply on the lips. All she could do was say, "Ah, what?" It was one thing for him to kiss her, but a whole other thing for him to kiss her while she was almost topless.

"Hey, Vladimir! Cut it out! She's not like that!" said Vlad defensively.

"I'm just kidding with her!" he said, "Tikhonov told me to come and get you two, so he could discuss this problem with you."

"Okay, just let me get my shirt back on." Said Nadia.

Vlad and Nadia put their shirts back on and walked out from the room.

Tikhonov looked at them and saw that they were both a little weary and red.

"So, what did Krutov interrupt?" he asked.

Nadia blushed and looked at Vlad.

"Nothing." He said, "We were just discussing the problem."

Tikhonov looked into Nadia's eyes.

"Her eyes told me the whole story." Tikhonov said.

Nadia mouthed the word "sorry" to Vlad.

"I told you I didn't want anything to happen between you two until the Olympics were over." Said Tikhonov sternly.

He shook his head with annoyance and changed the subject, "I thought of the one way that Nadia could come back to the Soviet Union." Said Tikhonov.

"What?" they both asked.

"Well, her parents would have to Russian citizens, making her a Russian citizen."

"Oh… well, I'm not sure if they are." She said, "They ran away from the Soviet Union on a cargo plane. I'm not sure if they are citizens still."

"Well, we'll find out later." Said Vlad, "It's late."

He looked at the clock and it said 11:03 PM.

"Wow, I think I should get going." Said Nadia.

They leaned in to kiss, but stopped half way. They smiled at each other and said "goodnight" softly.


	16. A Painful Injury

The Next Day…

Nadia woke up late the next day, tired from the night before. She quickly got on her clothes and went down to the restaurant, where she met up with Sally. Nadia and Sally ate breakfast and decided to go to watch Tretiak and Mikhailov play. The two girls went in the direction of the rink where they would watch the USSR team play against the team from. Nadia and Sally were talking to each other while walking and weren't really paying attention to their surroundings.

"So, what did Tikhonov say when he found out what you were doing?" asked Sally.

"Well, he wasn't as angry as I thought he would be. But, he might be really angry with Vlad if he doesn't play well." Said Nadia, "I mean… it's not good that—Ouch!"

Nadia looked and saw that she had walked right into someone. That someone was Tina.

"Well look who it is," she said, "It's the little communists."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Sally.

Nadia glared at Tina, angered at her for insulting Russians.

"Hey, watch how you talk about Russians!" said Nadia.

"Oh, yeah… your little boyfriends are from Russia." Said Chelsea.

"Yes… and so am I!" said Nadia.

Chelsea, Tina, and Halley gasped.

"Seriously?" asked Tina.

"Uh, yes! Look at my last name! Petrova!" said Nadia, angrily.

"Well, that's even better!" said Chelsea.

"And so what if they're Russian?" said Nadia, "Vlad and Boris are the nicest guys in the—."

"What kind of name is _Vlad_?" asked Chelsea, with mocking laughter in her voice.

"His nickname. His full name is Vladislav." Said Nadia defensively.

"Oh, like that's a step up!" said Tina.

"And you _actually_ think he likes you?" asked Chelsea.

"Well, he kisses me with an unforgettable passion, spends much of his free time with me, and is always so sweet." Said Nadia.

"And your point?" said Chelsea, rudely.

"Her point," said Sally, "is that she loves him."

"You sound jealous." Said Nadia to Chelsea.

"Are you kidding me?" asked Chelsea, "This is her _first _boyfriend!"

"Exactly!" said Sally, "Nadia's first boyfriend. How many unsuccessful relationships have you had? I bet you've never even been in love once!"

"Shut up!" said Tina, "Who would ever like you?"

"No…" said Nadia, "You're wrong!"

"Oh, now you're a little miss tough girl!" said Chelsea, mockingly.

"All of these years I've known you, since 4th grade, you've told me that no guy would ever like me!"

"We were just doing you a favor by not having you get your hopes up." Said Tina, "I mean, you're not _that_ pretty!"

"Then how come OC thought I was?" Nadia asked slyly.

"What?" asked Tina, with a deadly silence in her voice.

Shedidn't know that Nadia had heard OC say this.

"You know!" said Sally who had know idea what they were talking about.

"Shut up, Sally!" said Tina.

"I heard him." Said Nadia, "He said I was cute."

Tina walked close to Nadia, towering over her and pushed her against the wall. She hit Nadia hard in the stomach. Nadia took a deep breath out and fell to the ground. Tina took her leg back far and kicked Nadia hard in the ribs. Nadia screeched with pain. Tina and Chelsea laughed, but Halley just looked at the fallen little girl.

"Stop it!" screamed Sally.

Chelsea pushed her against the wall, like Tina had done to Nadia and smacked her across her face.

"That'll teach you to think before you talk back to us!" said Chelsea and smacked her again.

"No…" said Nadia, out of breath and in pain. Tina pulled back her leg again, but was stopped by Halley.

"No." said Halley, "I can't watch it anymore."

"Excuse me?" said Chelsea, "Whose side are you on?"

"I'm on your side!" said Halley, "Well, actually, not this time…"

"I'll let this little incident go, just this once." Said Chelsea, "But next time… it won't be so easy!"

Chelsea and Tina walked away, leaving Halley with Nadia and Sally.

The three of them stood in the empty hallway, the sound of cheering during the hockey game was heard from down the hall.

"Thanks." Said Nadia gratefully.

"I'm not your friend!" said Halley, "But I couldn't watch you getting abused like that."

"Yeah, well…" said Sally, "Thanks."

"No, thank you." Said Halley, "You made me realize something about all of my relationships. That I've never actually fallen in love before."

"Is that good?" asked Sally.

"I guess so." Said Halley, "Now I can find someone that I really like and who is, of course, hot!"

Sally and Nadia looked at each other when she said that.

"What's it like?" asked Halley.

"It's the most wonderful thing." Said Nadia, who sounded out of breath.

"I mean, I've kissed ten times as many boys as you have and… they've never meant half as much as your one kiss at the airport with Vlad."

"Yeah… that was nice." Said Nadia.

"Well… thanks again." Said Sally.

"Well, don't expect it to happen again. We're still enemies." Said Halley, frowning.

Sally and Nadia looked at Halley sadly. Halley smiled a little and said, "Thanks."

They shook hands and walked off in separate directions. Halley, in the direction of her room and Sally and Nadia in the direction of there's. Nadia and Sally were so tired, they forgot to go watch Vlad and Boris's game.

That Night…

Nadia was awake at 9:00 that night, thinking about the day. That's when she remembered that she forgot to go see Vlad play.

'Oh no. Vlad will hate me for that.'

Nadia became very sad, her side still aching from the beating.

'Maybe a little swim will cool off my mind.' She thought.

Nadia changed into her swimsuit and grabbed her towel and walked out of her hotel. The pool was in the athlete's hotel, so Nadia had to walk down the sidewalk in sandals in the ice-cold air. As Nadia entered the hotel, she saw the USSR team with Tikhonov, sitting at tables eating their dinner. Nadia remembered that they had a late practice that night and was scared to see Vlad, in fear of him being angered with her for missing his game. Nadia snuck past the open door of the restaurant, without him seeing her… or so she thought. Vlad _did_ see her and wondered why she was sneaking away from him. He told Tikhonov that he was going to go up to his room and got to bed. "Sure, Vladislav." Said Tikhonov.

"Thanks." He said and ran out of the restaurant.

Vlad ran to the pool, knowing Nadia was there because of the bathing suit he saw her wearing. He came in from the side door and saw Nadia swimming around the shallow end of the pool. Vlad took off his shirt and jeans jumped into the deep end with his jeans on. Nadia gasped.

"Who is there?" she asked with a scared tone.

The deep end of the indoor pool was covered in the shadow of the night, while the shallow end was lit with the light of the moon. Nadia saw Vlad swim into view.

"Vlad." She said, "I'm so sorry."

"For what?" he asked.

"I forgot to come and see you play."

"Nadia, don't be sorry." He said, "It's just a game."

"Yeah, but I feel awful." She said.

Vladislav went very close to Nadia and put his hands on her sides.

"Ouch!" Nadia cried with pain.

"What? What did I do?" questioned Vladislav.

"No, no, it's nothing." She said.

Through the shallow water, Vlad saw a huge bruise on Nadia's side.

"Oh my gosh, Nadia." He said, "What happened?"

Nadia laid her head on Vlad's shoulder and he stroked her hair.

She started to bawl.

"It was…" she started to say, "It was… it was…"

"Who was it?" asked Vlad.

Nadia smiled at him and touched his face. Then, she was gone.

"Nadia?" asked Vlad, frantically, "Nadia!"

He shook Nadia but she didn't wake up. Nadia had fainted. Vladislav, having very little of an idea of what to do, picked up Nadia and ran out of the pool, down the hallway and into the lobby. Luckily, his team was just leaving to go back to their rooms.

"Nadia fainted." He said.

All of his teammates looked at him, with his boxers dripping wet, holding Nadia a wet in her small two-piece bathing suit.

"We have to get her to the hospital." Said Krutov, with a look of concern on his face.

Together, the USSR hockey team called an ambulance and took Nadia to the hospital, where she awoke the next morning.

In the Hospital the Next Morning…

"Nadia…Nadia…Nadia…"

Everything was white. There was a voice in the distance calling Nadia's name but she didn't come. She was afraid of who it might be… Tina, Chelsea, Red, or Gary… it was too risky.

"Nadia… Nadia…" the voice called again.

This time, it was tempting her to come. It might be Vlad, Sally, Krutov, or Boris. Nadia ran toward the voice and a bright green light emerged from the distance. Nadia slowly opened her eyes.

"Nadia?" asked a man dressed in white, who looked like a doctor.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Good, you know who you are." He said.

"Of course." Said Nadia, "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because, sweetie, you blacked out yesterday night." He said, "We think is was because of the cold of the pool and your cracked rib that knocked you out."

"Cracked rib?" Nadia said.

'I can't believe that Tina cracked my rib.' She thought.

"How do you think it happened?" asked the doctor.

"Well, it was a girl…" said Nadia, ready to spill the whole story.

"A girl beat you up?" asked the doctor, "If you give me information about her, she can be arrested for physical assault."

Nadia thought about this for a second. On the one hand, if she told, she would never have to worry about Tina and Chelsea again. She could live her life without fear. But, on the other hand, if she _did_ tell, they would get arrested. She knew that Tina and Chelsea hated her, but Nadia didn't share that pure hatred towards them. She knew that they were probably just jealous of her.

"Well," said the doctor, "Anything?"

"No… I'm sorry." Said Nadia, "I don't know who it was."

"Well, okay." Said the doctor, "Just tell me if you start to remember anything about the girl."

Nadia nodded and the doctor continued to ask her a few questions.

"Oh, one more question." He finally said, looking at his clipboard, "When was the last time you had—."

Nadia already knew what the last word was and answered, "I've never had it."

The doctor looked at her, skeptically.

"Well, I almost did. I mean, with my boyfriend Vladislav."

"Vladislav Tretiak is your boyfriend?" he asked.

"Yes. He's so wonderful…" she said.

"Well, okay then. You are free to leave whenever you want." He said and walked out of the room.

She heard him talking to someone in the hallway, telling him or her that she was okay. Nadia watched the door and saw it open. Vladislav came in, looking tired and relieved. He smiled at Nadia and Nadia smiled back. He walked over to her bedside and touched her side, which was bandaged up.

"So," he said, "how are you feeling?"

"Very good." Said Nadia, "But you look tired."

"Yeah, I was very worried for you, I stayed the night here." He said, "Didn't get a wink of sleep."

"Vlad… you really shouldn't have." Said Nadia, "You play the USA team tomorrow."

"Yeah, they're not that good," he said lightly, "But I should have gotten a little sleep I guess. I can barely stand."

"Please," said Nadia, "I'll come with you and you can rest before you play."

"But you can't walk." He said.

"I'll do my best." She said, getting up with a look of pain on her face.

"No, I'll carry you." Said Vladislav.

"No, you'll fall."

"I'll do my best." He said smiling.

That's when Nadia realized something that changed her life forever… Vladislav Tretiak was the man she needed to spend the rest of her life with. He was willing to take care of her, no matter what the circumstances. Nadia smiled back at him and he picked her up. A tired Vlad carried Nadia up to his hotel room, where he fell on his bed with exhaustion. Nadia and he snuggled up under the covers of his bed and fell asleep.


	17. The Mistakes That We Made

1:00 PM…

Nadia awoke from a ruffling of blankets next to her. She opened her eyes and was face to face with Vladislav. She could feel his warm breath on her face as he slept, unaware that she was looking at him with love. Nadia moved a little closer to him, her side hurting as she did so. She gently laid her lips on his and he opened his eyes.

"Nadia?" he said.

She pulled away, a little embarrassed.

"Hey." She said, quietly, "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, how about you?" he asked.

"Okay." She said, "Where's your teammates?"

"Probably getting lunch. It's," he looked at the clock, "1:02."

"Oh, wow. I wonder if Sally knows where I am." Said Nadia and got up slowly.

She walked to the door, hunched over from her injury, and walked into the main room in the suite.

"Is anyone there?" called Vlad from the bed.

Nadia looked around and saw no one.

"No, it's just us." She said and walked slowly back into the room.

Vlad looked at her bandaged side, which was visible through her white shirt.

"Why didn't you tell the doctor who hurt you?" asked Vlad.

"Because…because I couldn't." said Nadia sadly, "I'm not that heartless."

Vlad got up and held her in his arms.

"I wouldn't have done it either." He said.

Nadia and Vladislav kissed and held each other tight.

"Maybe we should find your team." Said Nadia, "I don't know how Viktor will take it when you tell him you stayed up all night."

"How about we see if he's in a good mood first." He said.

"Good idea." She said.

Nadia and Vladislav looked at the clock, which read 1:10 and decided to check the practice rink. They were just about to walk out the door, when they heard someone coming.

Vladimir Petrov, Vladimir Myshkin, and Valery Kharlamov came in the door and looked at Nadia and Vladislav standing there.

"I thought you said you weren't going to think about love." Said Kharlamov.

"Look, I just took Nadia back here because I was tired and she was hurt." Said Vlad.

"_Sure_." Said Kharlamov, "You're our best goalie and even though we're the best team, we can't let you get pulled."

Vladimir Myshkin, standing 5-foot-9, looked up at Kharlamov and scowled.

"No offence." Said Kharlamov, apologetically.

"I have no doubt that we can beat the USA team." Said Petrov, "Just don't do something that will make Coach angry at you. He's know to do stupid things like pull the best players when he's under pressure."

"Thanks, guys." Said Vlad, "And, really, nothing happened."

"Yeah," said Kharlamov, "You would look a lot more tired if something did."

Nadia blushed and Kharlamov saw this.

"Oh, so Nadia knows a little about this." He said.

All of them laughed.

"So, where's the team?" asked Nadia.

"Oh, they're probably finishing up their lunch."

"Yeah, Coach gave us a day of relaxation." Said Myshkin, "That was defiantly surprising!"

"Yeah," said Vlad, "That's good."

"Hey," said Petrov before they left, "I heard a lot of the Swedish players talking about going to a club later tonight."

"So?" asked Vlad.

"Maybe we can go." Said Petrov, "I mean, the Olympics are almost over and it sounds like fun."

"Are you crazy?" asked Vlad, "What will Tikhonov say?"

"He doesn't have to know…" said Petrov.

Vlad looked at Nadia, who was giving himworried eyes meaning that he shouldn't go.

"No," said Vlad, "I won't risk it."

"Are you going to learn to think for yourself?" asked Petrov, annoyed, "Stop listening to your girlfriend and go! You know you want to!"

Nadia could see that Vladimir Petrov was trying to make her the enemy in this conflict and decided to go.

"I think I'll go." Said Nadia, nervously, "Bye Vlad. Bye guys."

Nadia huggedVlad the best she could and started to walk out the door.

She turned and said, "You can go if you really want to."

She smiled slightly at him and he smiled back.

"Would you come with me?" he asked.

"If it's what you truly want, than yes, I'll go." She said.

Nadia knew that this was a bad idea, but didn't want Vlad to think the worst of her. She sadly went along with Vladimir Petrov's idea. Vladislav smiled at her, but secretly inside also knew that this idea wasn't good.

9:00 PM At The Club…

Nadia Petrova and Vladislav Tretiak walked into the club following Petrov, Kharlamov, Mikhailov who had Sally with him, and a few other guys on their team. The club was filled way over maximum capacity. There was loud music playing and people dancing. Vlad looked from the stairs at all of the people in the club. He noticed that most of them were hockey players or other athletes competing in the Olympics. Lots of them had dates. Vlad all of a sudden felt a hand take his and bring him onto the dance floor. He looked to see two girls he didn't know dancing very closewith him.

"Hey, I have a girlfriend!" he said and walked away from them.

He looked all around the crowd, trying to find Nadia. He didn't spot her or any of his friends anywhere. Vlad turned around to go up to the stairs to get a better view when he bumped into OC.

"Hey!" shouted OC, "Great club, right?"

"I'm looking for Nadia. Have you seen her?" asked Vlad.

"Not lately."

"Can you tell me if you do?"

"Sure!" said OC.

As soon as he started dancing, two girls came and grabbed him.

Vladislav walked away from the bigger crowd and over to the bar counter. There was a big bowl of punch on it. Vlad was worried about Nadia, so to calm his nerves he got a cup of the punch. He drank the whole cup and felt hyper. Vlad decided to have another cup to feel better. After his 4th cup, two girls walked up to him. The girls were a little taller and older than Nadia. One girl had aqua blue eyes and light brown long hair. She had very fair skin and a light yellow mini dress on. The other girl had hazel eyes and tanned skin like Nadia. She had blonde hair, a light blue tank top and black hip huggers.

"Hey." Said the blue eyed girl, "Your hot!"

Normally Vladislav would have gotten upset at this comment because of his love for Nadia, but he wasn't thinking straight.

"So are you." He said, with a drunken slur in his voice.

"I'm Kit." Said the blonde girl, winking at him.

"And I'm Cady!" said the brunette.

"I know you! You're Vladislav Tretiak, the Russian goalie!" said Kit.

"Yeah!" said Vlad, "That's me…"

"Lets dance!" said Cady and pulled Vladislav onto the dance floor.

Meanwhile…

Nadia was looking all over for her boyfriend. She was starting to become worried about him missing. She went to sit down to rest her side. When she sat, she looked beside her to see Vladimir Krutov.

"Krutov!" she shouted.

"Hey Nadia." He said.

"Thank God I found someone!" she said, "I've been wandering around, trying to stay hidden so guys won't grab me in uncomfortable places!"

"I'm sorry to hear that." said Krutov.

"Do you know where Vlad is?" she asked.

"Haven't seen him…" he said, "Why? Isn't he with you?"

"No, we got separated." Said Nadia.

"Well, I'll help you find him. I was planning on going back to the suite anyway."

"Thanks." Said Nadia, "But I can't see anyone. I'm too short!"

"Here…" said Krutov and put her on his shoulders, giving her a better view.

"Okay…" said Nadia, looking around. She immediately spotted him.

"I see him!" she said, "Just walk straight!"

Krutov walked until they reached Tretiak dancing with Cady and Kit.

Nadia rushed over to him and embraced him warmly.

"Vlad…" she said.

"Who are you?" he asked in a drunken voice.

"What!" asked Nadia, "You know who… I mean, what are you…?"

She was looking at Kit and Cady who were hanging onto Vlad giving her evil looks.

"Hey, go find your own guy!" said Kit, also sounding drunk.

"Yeah, go find… another guy!" said Cady.

"I don't know you!" said Vladislav, "Your not as hot as my girlfriends!"

Nadia had to try hard to hold back her tears.

"Come on, your coming with me!" she said.

"No, he's staying!" said Kit.

"No bitch! He's coming with me!" said Nadia, angrily.

It was rare that she swore. Krutov realized this and stepped in.

"Hey, get off of Vlad!" he said.

"You're hot!" said Cady to Krutov, "Want to dance?"

"No!" he said, grabbing Vlad's arm, "Get away!"

They wouldn't let go of Vlad, who was looking tired.

"Hey!" said Vlad, "Where's the bed?"

"Shut up, Vlad!" said Krutov.

"And _you_ two!" said Nadia to Kit and Cady, "Get off of Vlad or I swear I will..."

"Fine bitch!" said Cady walking away.

Krutov helped Nadia pull him away and as soon as they looked at him, he had fallen asleep.

"Oh great…" said Krutov sarcastically, "Just what we need."

Nadia was glad to hear his funny sarcasm again. She wasn't used to him being serious.

Nadia and Krutov carried the sleeping Vlad back to the hotel area. Nadia was going to bring him up to their suite but Krutov said, "We can't do that! What would Tikhonov say?"

"Yeah." said Nadia, "Lets bring him to my room."

They kept walking until they got to the elevator in Nadia's hotel. They set Vlad down and as soon as he hit the floor, Nadia bent over in pain.

"Nad!" he shouted.

"My side…it hurts…" she said in between breaths.

Krutov carefully pick her up and she fell asleep in his arms. When she awoke, she was tucked in her bed. Krutov was looking out the window at the night sky, in deep thought.

"Vladimir," she said, "Where's Vlad?"

"In that chair." He said in a tired voice.

Nadia looked beside her bed and saw Vladislav Tretiak asleep in the chair. She carefully got up and tapped him on the shoulder. His eyes slowly opened to her smiling face.

"Hello Nadia," he said smiling, "What time is it?"

Nadia looked at the clock. "4:00" she said.

"I feel awful." He said.

Nadia felt his head and he felt normal. She decided to tell him the story of his night of "fun."

"Wow…" he said sounding exhausted, "I'm so sorry Nadia…"

"No, it wasn't—." she started to say, but stopped.

Vlad had fallen asleep in the chair.

"Goodnight…" she said softly.

Nadia got up from where she was kneeling and walked back to bed, hunched over with pain.

"Ah…" she said softly, because of the injury. Krutov looked at Nadia and knew that it wasn't just physical pain she was in.

"It hurts, huh?" he said.

"Yeah, my ribs are—."

"No, I mean at the club."

Nadia frowned.

"Yeah… but I know it wasn't him… but it still…hurts…"

"I know. And believe me, Vlad would never get drunk on purpose and treat you like that. You're the world to him."

"Thanks." Said Nadia.

"And I don't think you should go to our game tomorrow." He said.

"What! Why not?"

"Because look at you. Look at the pain you are in!"

"No, I am going!"

"I want you resting!"

"I've already missed most of your games! I won't miss this one!"

With that, Vladimir Krutov pulled Nadia Petrova close to him, looked deep into her eyes and spoke from his heart.

"I care about you too much to see you hurt! But Vlad would rather die than see you in this much pain!"

Nadia burst into tears and Krutov held her close.

"Vladimir…" she cried, "I'm so confused!"

"Talk it out with Vlad in the morning, when he's better."

He said. Nadia just nodded and closed her eyes. After a few seconds of silence and being held by one of her boyfriend's closest friends, Nadia went to bed. She woke up at 12:00 AM.

12:03…

Nadia awoke at 12:03. She felt a lot better than she had earlier. She was going to talk to Vlad about the game, which was at 17:00, or 5:00PM. Nadia looked in the chair where her goalie had been sleeping and found a note. It said…

_Meet me at the hotel café. Again, I'm sorry for hurting you. Let me talk to you. I must hear yourvoise.Love, Vladislav_

Nadia's heart rate got faster as she thought of sharing love with Vladislav Tretiak again, like they did in April. She quickly got dressed and went to meet him.


	18. Not As It Seems

12:10…

Nadia walked down to the café. She could see Vladislav sitting at a table for two alone. He had ordered two drinks, one for himself and one for Nadia. Nadia walked over to him and sat down at the table. He smiled at her and started to speak.

"Nadia," he said, "I've been thinking about this all morning…"

Nadia moved closer to him to listen.

"It's not fair to make you wait." He said.

"The games are almost over," she said, "And you'll kick butt later!"

Vlad laughed, "Yeah!"

"And then we can be together." She said quietly, moving closer to him.

"Yes… and we can spend everyday forever together, and have children and live in a huge house." He said, moving in.

Nadia felt a burst of energy inside of her and couldn't ignore it. She remembered to a while back when all she wanted was a boyfriend in Russia. And her dream had become a reality.

"I just want to forget about last night." Said Vlad, taking her hand in his.

"Okay… so," said Nadia, grinning, "How will you make it up to me?"

Vladislav made a face to show he was thinking.

"How about dinner and a movie?" he asked thoughtfully.

"Well, I suppose…" she said, jokingly, "Thanks."

"No, thank you," he said, "for helping me the other night."

"I just hope Tikhonov doesn't find out!" said Nadia.

"Yeah…" he replied, "So, we have two hours to kill! What should we do?"

"Let's go see some of your adoring fans!" said Nadia.

They both laughed at this comment.

"Yeah…" he said, "but seriously?"

"Let's skate!" said Nadia, "But first let me get washed up. I didn't shower last night."

"No problem" he said.

The two walked back to Nadia's room.

Nadia used her key to unlock her door. She heard the shower running and knocked on the door.

"Sally?" she asked.

A few thoughts of Sally with Boris ran through her head and she cringed and the thought. Sally opened the door slightly and stuck her head out. She saw Vladislav standing there and screamed. He quickly turned around with embarrassment.

"Sorry Sally!" said Nadia, "I need to take a quick shower."

"Wait a second." Said Sally and closed the door. A few seconds later she came out in a robe, went to get some clothes and went back in the bathroom. When Sally came out, she still looked quite embarrassed.

"So, why's he here if you have to take a shower?" asked Sally a little slyly.

She turned to Vlad who was turning red.

"No!" said Nadia quickly, "I'm going skating with him and I wanted to wash up."

"Well, have fun." She said sarcastically.

She left the room and Nadia hugged Vladislav.

"Wow…" she said, "That was funny!"

"That won't happen just yet." He said slyly.

Nadia smiled and went to take a shower. After about five minutes, she came out in a white towel. Vladislav got up off the bed and looked at his girlfriend. She blushed.

"I forgot to get clothes." She said, innocently.

She bent down into her suitcase and got a white t-shirt and jeans. She got back up with her clothes in her hands to see Vladislav staring at her full lips. She smiled at him and he grinned.

"I better get dressed." She said.

In the Hall…

Viktor was walking down the hallway to Nadia's room. He needed to find Vladislav to discuss the US game with him and he figured that Nadia might know where he was. He got to room 523 and knocked on the door. Nadia, still in her towel, opened the door slightly and peaked her head out. When she saw that it was Viktor Tikhonov, she squeaked with fright.

"Hello Nadia." He said.

"Um… hi, uh, why are you here?" she said nervously, glancing back at Vlad, who didn't know what to do.

"I was trying to find Tretiak." He said, "Do you know where he is?"

"Just a second." She said, closing the door.

It remained slightly opened.

"Nadia, I just need…" he started to say as he opened the door.

Nadia screamed.

"I told you to wait!" she said.

She was standing next to Vlad in her towel. They both turned red because they knew exactly what he was thinking.

"What!" he cried, "What's going on?"

"It's not as it seems!" said Vlad.

Viktor looked at Nadia, who looked very embarrassed. She took her clothes and ran into the bathroom.

"I told you! I told you not to fool around!" shouted Tikhonov, "No love!"

"We didn't do anything!" said Vlad, "She just needed to take a shower before we went skating!"

"She didn't do that last night?" replied Tikhonov.

"No, because we—."

"Yes?"

Vladislav sighed. He knew that Viktor would figure out that he and his teammates had been clubbing eventually.

"We went to a club."

"Finally… you've hit rock bottom." Said Tikhonov, disappointedly, "You better hope this doesn't affect you! If you let in more that one goal against the US team, you're coming out! Do you hear me?"

Vlad nodded.

"Did Nadia go?" he asked.

"Yes," said Vlad, "she didn't want to because she was worried about me."

"So… what did you do?"

"I…I don't remember…"

"Is it because you were drunk?"

Vlad gasped a little and asked, "How did you—."

"Petrov."

"Why?"

"Petrov thinks that you will let our team down. He is very jealous that you are one of the greatest players that ever lived and that he won't be remembered like you will."

Vlad nodded.

"And," continued Tikhonov, "he loves hockey more than anything."

"So do I!" shouted Vlad without thinking.

"Are you sure?" asked Tikhonov.

Then, all of the thoughts of Nadia came flooding into Vladislav's head. He shook his head and went to the bathroom door. He knocked and Nadia opened the door. She smiled at him and took a deep breath.

"I've thought this over and I think that it's for the best." She said, "You are the best goalie in the world and I'm just getting in the way."

"No Nadia…" he said.

"Yes Vlad! I can't stop you from playing, and I don't want to, but…"

Vlad put his finger to her lips and she went silent for a second and then continued, "Vlad… it can't work. You and I can't just put our love on hold for months at a time."

"Nad! What are you saying?" cried Vlad.

"I'm saying…" cried Nadia, "that you should forget about me and move on! I'm more trouble than I'm worth!"

She burst into tears because she didn't mean what she was saying. Vlad even shed a few tears, hearing these words coming out of her mouth.

"Just go…" said Nadia solemnly, hanging her head.

Vlad, half in shock, walked out of the door and slammed it shut. Nadia jumped at the thump it made and looked up to see Tikhonov still in her room.

"Well!" she screamed, "Are you happy now? My one true love, gone, all because you wouldn't let us be! What do you want!"

Tikhonov sat next to Nadia and put his hand on hers.

"Don't touch me." She said, snatching her hand away.

"Nadia, you and Vladislav can't fall in love… for the sake of him. He is a great hockey player and you are in the way." Said Tikhonov, harshly.

"No! No! Vlad told me… he told me that, he loved hockey when he was young. But now that it's his life he, he doesn't care anymore!" said Nadia in between hiccups that had started from her tears.

Tikhonov looked down at his feet and then stood up.

"If you're right… I'll support you two until the day I die, knowing that you were meant to be together." He said.

Nadia nodded and he left. Alone in her room, she cried silently.


	19. These Are the Moments

The door burst open.

"Nadia?" asked Sally concerned, "What's wrong?"

Nadia couldn't stop her uncontrollable sobbing so decided to talk through it.

"I-I-I just b-broke up with Vl-Vlad!" she cried, throwing her head onto a pillow.

"What!" cried Sally, "Why? You two were meant to be together! I mean, you two are like peanut butter and jelly for crying out loud, always stuck together!"

"No, it was my fault!" cried Nadia, speaking clearer, "He-He, didn't want to and neither did I, b-but I said things that I didn't m-mean."

"Like what?" asked Sally.

"Like that I'm more trouble than I'm worth and that he should just forget me!" said Nadia.

"Look Nadia, you have to get him back!" said Sally, "I might remain Sally Zhao forever… but you, you were meant to be Nadia Tretiak."

Nadia looked up at Sally and smiled.

"I know I am…" she said quietly, "But you, Sally, you will defiantly become someone other than Sally Zhao! Maybe even Sally Mikhailova!"

Sally laughed.

"Maybe!" she said, "But in the mean time, you have to get him back!"

"I can't face him after all of those things I said to him!" said Nadia.

"Knowing Vlad, I don't think he'll mind seeing you again!" said Sally.

"Well, okay…" said Nadia.

She looked at the clock and it read 4:30 pm.

"Oh my gosh! We're going to be late!" cried Nadia and sprung up from her bed. She cried with pain.

"Nadia, are you sure you're okay?" asked Sally.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Nadia replied, "I just want to see Vlad. I'm so miserable. I need his comfort."

"Did you ever think of what _he_ might of done when you told him to go?" asked Sally.

"No…" said Nadia, "I really didn't…"

_Vladislav walked down the hallway, half brokenhearted and half angered. How hadn't he seen this coming? Wasn't it obvious that he and Nadia couldn't have a relationship with his hockey getting in the way? Still, it was the most painful thing he'd ever experienced. More painful than his accident as a child that forced him to become a goaltender, more painful than his friend dying when he was 5. How could he forget about her and move on? Nadia was the woman he loved and couldn't bear to think of his life without her by his side or in bed, lying in his arms. _

_Vlad sat down in front of his door to his room and cried silently. It was the first time in his life that he cried out of pure sadness and longing. He heard someone coming from the end of the hall but didn't care who it was. Then, he heard the person come up to him. _

"_Vlad?" asked the person. _

_Vlad looked up to see Boris Mikhailov. Boris starred at his tear-stained face and messed up hair. _

"_What happened?" he asked. _

"_Me and Nadia… it's over." Said Vlad, sadly. _

"_What?" asked Boris, "How? Why?" _

"_She and I… it just can't work. Our love can't be put on hold because of my profession. She shouldn't be forced to wait and neither should I." Said Vlad. _

"_Wait, Did you two have a fight?" asked Boris. _

"_Yeah… and I left." Said Vlad. _

"_Well, just because you had one fight, doesn't mean that it's over!" said Boris. _

"_What do you mean?" _

"_Look Vlad, these are the moments that help build you two! Your love will be even greater if you pull through this problem. You will both know, for sure, that it was meant to be. These times should be remembered forever!" _

_Vlad smiled slightly. _

"_Thanks Boris." He said. _

_Boris patted Vlad on the back. _

"_You know that your life wouldn't be the same without her, right?" he said. _

"_Yeah… yeah, I know that for sure. She's the most wonderful woman I've ever met." Said Vlad. _

"_Well then, you have to get her back as soon as possible." Said Boris, "I'll find Sally and make sure they don't leave!" _

_Vlad nodded and Boris jogged down the hallway and down the stairs. _

'_This has to be fixed…' he thought, 'She'll never get away from me. Never…'_

"Well Nadia… we should get going." Said Sally.

"You go on ahead… I need to wash up." Said Nadia.

"Sure?" she asked.

"Yeah…" she replied.

Sally smiled and left the hotel room. Nadia, seeing that she was alone, went into the bathroom and turned on the water. She got a clean cloth and washed her tear-stained face. She looked into the mirror and saw her face. It didn't look very happy, like she knew it usually did. 'Maybe I shouldn't go to the game.' She thought, 'Vlad could never forgive me…' She sighed and stood for a moment.

"He'll have to!" she finally said.

Nadia, then, thought of her future. If she and Vlad never made up, what would happen? Would she ever have children, two houses (one in Russia and one in the US), and a lovely life? If she were to ever _have _a future, Vlad needed to be a part of it. She couldn't possibly be the same woman without him.

"I have to talk to him!" she said.

"Then why don't you?"

Nadia turned around, shocked to hear another voice with her.

"I'm sorry Nadia!" she said, "But I couldn't leave you alone! Not like this."

"Thanks Sally." Said Nadia quietly.

"Well, let's get…" Sally stopped because of a knock on the door.

"Who is that?" asked Nadia.

"I think it's Boris." Said Sally, going to the door.

She opened the door to see that she was right. Boris stood in their doorway, smiling widely. Sally smiled back and led him to Nadia.

"Hey Boris." She said quietly.

"Nad, I really don't have time to talk because of the game, but Vlad is heartbroken. He told me that he feels awful about fighting with you and he realizes that he can't put true love on hold. But he—"

"Boris…" said Nadia, smiling, "I feel the same way."

Sally and Boris looked at each other, smiling.

"Well, now that that's settled," said Nadia, "what should Vlad and I do for you two? I mean, look at you! Look how happy you are!"

Sally blushed and Boris smiled.

"Yeah." He said, "Sally, we always have fun going out!"

"Yeah, and you are so sweet!" she said.

Nadia leaned in closer to hear them better, smiling. She knew what was coming next. The same thing happened with her and Vlad.

"Sally, I guess, what I'm saying is…"

"I, I love you." Said Sally, leaning in to kiss him.

Boris leaned in and met her half way. They shared a kiss, similar to those of Nadia and Vlad's. Nadia knew that it was too soon for Sally and Boris to be in love, but they probably really liked each other and that the word 'love' _was_ appropriate in this case.

"Okay you two." She said, smiling. They parted. "Let's get going!"

The two nodded, smiling at each other and went down to the arena.


	20. Everything's A Lie

Halfway down to the arena, Nadia started having aches and pains in her side. It seemed so much longer than two days since her accident. She didn't want to slow her friends down so she held her breath, hoping the pain would go away. It didn't.

"Nad," said Boris, "Don't tell Vlad I told you this, well, you can I guess but…"

Nadia looked at Boris.

"When he left your room, he went back to his and was outside his door crying."

Nadia gasped. "What?"

"Not like bawling," said Boris, "But he was sitting against the door, head in his hands, crying quietly. It was really sad to see."

"I can't believe I did that to him." Said Nadia, "What kind of person am I?"

"Don't blame yourself." Said Sally, "Something had to be said sooner or later."

"Yeah, but I picked sooner," said Nadia, "And what if Vlad doesn't play his best hockey and you lose… I couldn't live with myself if that happened."

"Nadia!" said Boris with a raised voice, "If we, by some chance, lose to the Americans, it won't be because of you or Vlad! It would have to do with how we played as a team. Don't worry so much! It'll be fine!"

"But what if—" Nadia started to say but Boris put his hand over her mouth to silence her.

"No Nadia." Said Sally, "It'll be fine."

They all smiled and realized that they were almost at the entrance.

"Well, I don't know if Tikhonov will like you two coming into the locker room with me, even though all of the guys know you." Said Boris.

"What about Vlad?" asked Nadia.

"Yeah, maybe you two _should_ come." said Boris.

"Okay," Said Nadia, "I just want to sort things out before—"

"Yeah, the game." Boris finished for her.

Nadia smiled at Boris and saw him take Sally's hand and walk up to the security guard.

"Who are you?" asked the guard.

Boris pointed to his CCCP jacket and said, "I'm Boris Mikhailov."

"Oh, and, who's she?" he asked, pointing to Sally.

"This is my girlfriend, she's coming in with me." He said.

"Oh." Said the guard. He looked and saw Nadia standing behind Boris.

"What about her?" he asked, pointing at Nadia.

"She is my friend." Said Boris.

"Alright, you can go." The guard said, stepping aside to let them go.

"Spasibo." Said Boris, walking in with Sally and Nadia.

In the locker room, the team was getting ready for their game. Some were finishing putting on their uniforms and some were re-taping their sticks. Nadia looked and saw Vlad in the corner, talking with Vladimir Krutov. He didn't see her. Just then, she heard Viktor Tikhonov.

"Where's Boris!" he cried.

Boris stepped up. "Here, coach!" he said.

"Where have you been?" he said, "And why aren't—wait. Why are _they_ here?"

"Well, I wanted Sally with me and I thought that Nadia should talk to Vladislav before we go play. I mean, Vlad was really upset, and so was she, so I though that…"

Boris stopped because of the look Tikhonov was giving him.

"Boris, I need to talk to Nadia. Alone." He said, nodding his head at Nadia, "Come with me."

Nadia saw Tikhonov walk towards his office and started to follow. She turned around and gave Boris and Sally a worried look. Boris and Sally both tried to smile but were worried for he, too. Slowly, she turned and followed Tikhonov into his office.

"So, Viktor, what do you need to talk to me about?" she asked, with fear in her voice as he shut the door.

"It's about you and Vladislav." He said.

"Well, I kind of figured that, but… what about?" she said.

"Nadia, Vladislav told me a few days ago that he wanted to let you go, but didn't know how." Said Tikhonov.

"What?" Nadia whispered, "When? Why?"

"He thinks that having a relationship is ruining his game," he said, "And he didn't want to hurt you but dumping you so harshly."

"Well, this is just as bad…" said Nadia, welling with tears, "I mean, he was lying to me that whole time and he could've just told me and it would have been over by now."

"Well, he made the wrong decision." Said Tikhonov, seeing Nadia cradle her head in her hands and cry.

He went over to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" she cried, getting out of her chair, "Get away from me! I don't want anything else to do with you! Ever!"

Nadia ran from the room to the door, crying. All of the boys looked up and saw her in tears with Tikhonov coming from his office, slightly smiling. Vlad got up and ran to her.

"Nad, are you okay?" he cried, holding her in his arms.

"Get away from me you liar!" she said, pushing away from him and running out of the door, crying.

All of the boys were looking at Vlad now. Some were showing him signs to go after Tikhonov. Vlad had some ideas of what happened in Tikhonov's office and advanced on him.

"Viktor… what did you do to her?" cried Vlad, "Tell me!"

"I told her the truth." Said Tikhonov, "That you wanted to focus more on your hockey and that you didn't have time for a relationship."

"That's a lie!" shouted Vlad, "I _never_ said that! All I wanted was to be with Nadia, forever!"

"But that's not what's best for you!" said Tikhonov.

"Yes it is!" said Vlad, "We… we were _meant_ to be together! Nothing would feel right if we ended up apart!"

Outside the door to the locker room, Nadia stood and listened as Vlad confessed his love for her to everyone on his team.

'He really loves me…' she thought, 'now I feel like an idiot for believing Tikhonov. Stupid me!'

Nadia thought about going in to apologize, but she had a better idea. Nadia would make things up with Vlad after his game.

"It'll be best that way." She said, aloud, and walked into the arena to get her seat.


	21. Too Distracted

As Nadia walked to her seat, behind the USSR goal, she looked around at all of the signs. Many had sayings such as "Go USA!" "I Love Jim Craig!" or "Beat the Russians!" It pained Nadia to look at the "Beat the Russians!" signs almost as much as it pained her to walk. Her side was still aching. Nadia looked around at the numbers on the seats and walked until she reached hers. Someone was sitting in her seat, smiling evilly. It was Kit, alongside her friend Cady, the girls Nadia had to fight off of Vlad at the club.

"Well, well, well." Said Cady, "If it isn't… um, I never caught your name."

"And you never will." Said Nadia, "Why are you here?"

"Why do you think?" said Kit, "To see our sweetie Vlad!"

Nadia laughed a little.

"Okay, one, he's my boyfriend and two, he was drunk when he saw you! He didn't know what he was doing and he probably won't remember you!"

"No, me and Vlad have been really close!" Kit lied.

"Excuse me!" said Cady, "He and _I _have been close!"

Cady kind of motioned to Kit that Nadia was laughing at them fighting and they both turned around.

"Well, you are such a slutty, know it all and that's why he likes you!" said Kit, "Your little mind tricks!"

"Okay, yeah, sure… he likes me because I use mind tricks on him." Said Nadia, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. So get out of my seat and go away."

"No, we're here to watch Vladislav." Said Kit.

"Okay, do you want to make this easy on yourself?" said Nadia.

Kit and Cady looked at each other. Nadia saw fear creep into their eyes. She couldn't believe she was bullying these two girls, but she loved Vlad with all her heart and didn't want them to interfere. She would do whatever it took to let Vlad play without distractions.

"Well, whatever!" Said Cady, "There are much _cuter _guys on the American team!"

They walked up three rows and sat down next to another girl who was holding a sign that said, "I Love Jim Craig!"

Soon after, the game started. It was more than enough for Nadia to handle. Everything happened so fast between Tikhonov taking out Vlad and replacing him with Vladimir Myshkin and the Soviet team, therefore, losing 4 to 3 in the end. When the crowd erupted with excitement after the clock had run out, Nadia couldn't help but stand up and cheer along with them, shedding tears of sorrow and joy. The Soviet team had been the best in the world for fifteen years. Fifteen long years of training nonstop and never getting to be with their families. And the year that they lose is the only year that little Nadia Petrova is with the team. It was her fault that they had lost the game, but it was also her fault that they had learned so many new things such as how to have fun and take a chance.

After things had quieted down, Nadia found Sally and they went back into their hotel room to discuss what they would do, now that their team only had one game left to play.

"Sally…" Nadia said, "even though they lost, I feel happy. I don't know why, though."

"Well, our home country still won!" said Sally, "Our boyfriends my have lost, but at least they lost to a great team!'

"That's true…" said Nadia, sadly. She gazed out the window at the falling snow, wishing to be held in Vlad's arms. She needed his comfort more than ever now. She couldn't help thinking about what had happened before the game and how that made Vlad miss the first two goals of the game.

"I need to find Vlad." Nadia said quickly, getting up and running out of the room.

Just as she ran out of the door, she bumped directly into Vlad who had been waiting to see her. He smiled down at her and spoke four words.

"Your room or mine?" he asked smiling.

Nadia screeched with delight and jumped into his arms.

"Wait." She said, "Let's do this tomorrow. Your probably still tired from the game."

"If you mean my butt's tired from sitting the bench, then you're right!" he said.

"Tikhonov is retarded, Vlad!" said Nadia, "You should have stayed the entire game!"

"Well, he kept his promise to take me out if I let in more than one goal…" said Vlad, "I just can't believe he really did that, though. I guess I was too distracted."

Then, Vlad smiled suddenly. "I guess, now that that game is over, we can do as we like."

Nadia smiled along with him. "I guess so." She said quietly and kissed him.


	22. Author Note: Not a Chapter!

Note from me:

Well, sorry about the previous chapter being so short but I'm just getting back into this story! It took me long enough, I know! But, after I finish the last 2 chapters and epilogue, I'll go back, add some more chapters and take away some of the scenes I'm not happy with! So, until then, please try to put up with my horrible writing! Thanks!


	23. Free

The Next Day…

Nadia awoke with an unusually tired feeling about her. Her eyes opened slowly and looked around the room that wasn't her own, and yet, was still strangely familiar. Her eyes wandered to the window where the light of day was shining through, showing it was morning. As she lifted herself from the bed, she realized that she wasn't wearing anything.

"Oh my gosh, I'm naked!" Nadia cried. Then, all of the memories came flooding back and hit her like an ocean wave. She thought about this for a second and then looked to the bed where Vlad was still sleeping.

Nadia sauntered over to Vlad and saw that, he too, was naked. She looked up and down at his muscular body that had gotten that way from hockey training. He started at his face that was filled with kindness and love given to only one girl. She smiled and gently pressed her lips against his forehead, then kissed his lips, then finally kissed his neck. This made Vlad awake in a flash.

"Nadia," he said, "That was the night of my life."

Nadia only smiled and laid herself, rapped in a blanket, on top of him. It was the only thing separating the two bodies. But even that was too much for Vlad, who pulled the blanket lower and lower until it was completely off of Nadia and they were lying naked in the queen size bed. Then, all of a sudden, Nadia started to cry.

"What's wrong?" asked Vlad.

"I—I just never though that…" Nadia said, "that this could happen to me…"

Vlad smiled. "Can you do me a favor, Vlad?" she asked.

"Of coarse," he said, "Anything."

"I want you to hold me… and never let go…"

So Vlad held her in his arms for what seemed like forever… that is, until they heard voices outside of the room they were in. Panicking, they rapped themselves in blankets and hid in a corner of the room. Both of them were laughing, even though their secret might become revealed at any moment.

The door swung open to reveal Chelsea, Tina and Halley standing in the doorway. They looked around the room before they went in.

"I _know_ it was her and that Commie!" said Chelsea, "I mean, she's been attached to him ever since they met in Russia!"

"Why are we making such a big deal about this?" asked Halley, "I mean, it's not like…"

Halley stopped. She was looking directly at Nadia and Vlad, huddled in the corner of the room. All Halley saw was Nadia's eyes grow wide with the fear of being humiliated, or even hurt, again. Then, Halley smiled slightly and continued talking.

"You're such a dumb blonde!" said Tina, "You just _totally_ spaced!"

"Uh, yeah…" said Halley, trying not to look at the couple in the corner, "Sorry about that. Well, they're not here, let's go!"

"You sound so anxious to leave!" said Tina, "Why?"

"Well… uh," said Halley, "I don't want to be in a room where someone just _did it_!"

"Eww… yeah!" said Chelsea, "Let's get out of here! I only want to be in a room like that if it was _me_ that just did it!"

"Trust me babe, you'll have _plenty_ of those rooms!" said Tina.

The three of them walked out rather quickly and went to talk to a few men standing outside. Vlad and Nadia, still huddled together, went to the door to see who it was. Chelsea was talking to Rizzo, Tina was talking to OC and Halley was talking to Jimmy.

"Well, if _Nadia_ can get it with a _Soviet_, then _I _want it with _you_!" cried Chelsea.

The expression on Rizzo's face was one that both Vlad and Nadia would never forget. "No, Chels!" he said, "If you want sex just because your enemy had it then… I'm sorry… we're though!"

"No, that's not why!" she said to him, trying to make him come back.

"Yeah, whatever!" he yelled to her, "I can't believe I even wasted my time with you!"

Rizzo walked away from the group with disgust and slammed the door to the USA suite behind him. That's when it hit Nadia where they were.

"We're in the US suite!" she cried.

"You don't remember me talking to a few of the boys?" asked Vlad, "Well, I asked them if we could borrow a room for the night. They pretty much understood why, knowing about Tikhonov and all…"

"So, they all _know_?" asked Nadia, "About you and me having… sex?"

"Not all of them…" said Vlad, "Just the coach is oblivious!"

Nadia tried not to smile but she couldn't help it. She hit him playfully on the chest a few times until he pulled her close and kissed her neck.

"Oh, wait, Vlad!" she said in-between giggles, "No…we need to, ah! Keep our presence, ah, hidden!"

"Hmm, alright…" he said, running his hands down her back, giving her chills, "but, later on, okay?"

Nadia nodded and, still smiling with delight, turned to look out the door again. She was in complete shock when she turned and saw everyone looking at them. Nadia's face turned pale as she turned to Vlad, who was even paler.

"I think they know…" said Nadia.

"Yeah, I would say so!" said Vlad, starting to stand up, pulling Nadia along with him.

The two of them walked into the common room, not caring if they were clothed or not, and sat on the couch facing the others. For a moment, there was only silence… Vlad, who was looking from face to face at each shocked expression, decided to look at the only face that knew what was going on. When he turned to Nadia, her head was down and her cheeks were unusually red. She had her eyes closed and her fists clenched on her lap. Vlad put an arm around her and she snuggled against him.

"Alright," said OC, "That's enough for me!"

"Hey, you said we could spend the night." Said Vlad, "Why did _these three_ come in looking for us? You _knew_ what we were doing!"

"Good question!" said OC to Tina, "Why _did_ you go in there?"

"Well, we just wanted to see if the rumor was true!" she said, "I mean, we didn't _actually_ think little Nadia would do such a thing!"

"Hey!" shouted Nadia, "I'm not _that_ little! And I can do whatever I like without _you_ knowing about it!"

"You wouldn't be talking so tough if your boyfriend didn't have his hands all over you!" Chelsea said, advancing on Nadia.

"You know what," said Nadia, getting up from the couch, "I don't really care what you think of me! To tell you the truth, the _only_ thing I've ever seen you do, besides hit on guys, was pick on me! That's a pretty sad way to live life… just being horrible to someone!

"And I'm not saying that about all of you! Halley has a good heart and every time you pick on me, I see Halley wanting to say something!"

All eyes turned to Halley, who looked like she had a lot to say. "Well, I just can't stand seeing Nadia and Sally getting beaten on!" she said, "It's horrible!"

"You little double-crosser!" Tina said, "How dare you! You're supposed to be on our side!"

Tina wrapped her arms around OC, who pulled away from her. "No way cutie!" he said, "It's not even worth it!"

He walked out of the hotel suite the same way Rizzo did, slamming the door behind him. Chelsea and Halley looked at Tina, whose mouth was hanging open like she had just been hit… hard. Just then, Halley turned to Jim, who was looking at the door. She felt that the same thing was about to happen to her and didn't want it to be as painful.

"Okay Jim…" she started to say, "I get it… I'm a boy obsessed, self-absorbed, follower that will never amount to anything so… go ahead, you can go…"

Jim stood, dumbstruck, looking at Halley with heavy feeling in his eyes. He didn't know what to say to her. For everything that she said was true, but Jim didn't' want to leave her. Halley had a good heart deep down, unlike Chelsea and Tina, and he wanted to help her release it.

"No, Halley… no," he said, "I don't want to leave you."

Halley looked at him with tears in her eyes. "You don't?"

"No… you have a kind soul, and I can see that." He said, "I don't want to have any other girl but you."

Tina and Chelsea looked at each other and then at Halley and Jim. Chelsea glared at Halley and said, "Well fine! Have it that way you fat slut!"

"Don't talk to her like that!" cried Jim, holding Halley's hands in his, "She's worth ten times as much as you two put together!"

"You know what?" shouted Tina, "We'll find _hotter _guys on a_ foreign _team! Foreign guys are so hot!"

"Fine… you do that!" said Halley, "But just remember, hot doesn't equal kind and goodhearted!"

"Yeah, it equals a nice ass!" said Tina.

Tina and Chelsea hooked arms and walked out of the room with their noses in the air, slamming the door behind them in disgust.

Vlad and Nadia looked from each other to Halley and Jim. The new couple was smiling at each other, looking like they had just found their soul mate.

"So… how does it feel?" Nadia asked Halley.

"What?" Halley replied.

"How does it feel to be free?"


	24. Last Day

**omg! one more chapter left! and then the epilogue! wow, this took me more than a year to finish!**

Later That Day…

Vlad and Nadia spent his entire free day out in the cold walking though the cold New York air and snuggling together to keep warm on benches. When they ran out of places to walk, they decided to go ice-skating at the rink in Lake Placid.

"It will be just like when we met!" said Nadia, happily.

Vlad smiled, "Yeah, except then, we were still young… now, well… we have experience."

"Yeah…" said Nadia, "And now…" She grabbed his hands, "I can skate better!"

"Yeah, like when you fell coming to get me on the ice!" he said, laughing, "That was a picture of perfection!"

Nadia laughed along with her boyfriend, happy to almost be carefree with him. But one thing hit her hard, like a bullet, and she had to mention it to Vlad right away. She stopped and faced him, eyes full of concern, and asked the question that all men dread hearing.

"Do you think I'm pregnant?" she asked softly, her cheeks getting red.

This made Vlad's smile fade and become replaced with a slight frown. They stared into each other's eyes, trying to read one another's thoughts. They stood like this until the felt a great force hit them. They fell over and immediately looked up to see Cady and Kit along with two large men that Vlad recognized from the West Germany Team. Cady and Kit had their arms hooked with their boyfriend's arms.

"Um, excuse me?" said Vlad sarcastically, wondering whom these people were, "But that was really rude!"

"Yeah, and like what _you_ did to _us_ wasn't!" said Cady with a raised tone.

Vlad stared at the brunette with wonder. 'Who _is_ this?' he though.

"Um, yeah… I think you've got me confused with someone else." He said calmly.

"No Vlad… we know exactly who we're dealing with!" said Kit, "Why did you leave _us_ for this whore anyway?"

"Leave you?" asked Vlad, looking worriedly at Nadia who was glaring at the girls, "Who are you? I've never seen you before in my life!"

"I told you!" said Nadia angrily, "He was drunk when he met you! He wouldn't remember you if he tried!"

"But seriously, come with us!" said Kit, "We've got a few things to show you!"

Vlad looked at the girls skeptically. 'They are hot' he thought, 'but I don't know them! And anyways, I love Nadia and probably just got her pregnant!'

"Get lost you sluts!" he said.

A wave of relief swept though Nadia. "Yeah, you heard him!" shouted Nadia in return, thankful that Vlad didn't leave. She knew that these girls were much prettier than her and didn't want Vlad to fall into their trap.

Kit gave Nadia and Vlad the finger as she and Cady walked away with their large boyfriends who continued to be silent. Vlad looked at Nadia, who spoke immediately.

"Vlad, I know that they're prettier than me but I—" Nadia started to say but was interrupted by Vlad.

"No, I was a jerk… no one is prettier, smarter, funnier, or more fun to be with than you…" he said, "I really, honestly, and with all of my heart… love you…"

Nadia felt like she was going to cry with happiness but felt no need to. She knew all along how he felt about her. Now that things were falling into place, with Tikhonov not on there back, Chelsea and Tina blown off by the Americans, Halley free from their wrath, and Sally finding love, this seemed like the perfect time for Vlad to truly express his feelings.

"I love you too Vlad, with all of my being… I truly do." She said in return.

They kissed right in the middle of the rink, hearing some children say, "Eww!" and some teenage girls say, "Wow!" They'd never felt so good now that they were finally together at last…

But Nadia still felt like something was missing between them and Vlad thought of the perfect way to make their relationship last forever…


End file.
